
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



I 

I 



FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



AMERICAN 

NATURAL History Series. 

VOLUME I. 

Ferns in their Homes and Ours. 

By J. Robinson, Professor of Botany, Massachusetts Horticul- 
tural Society. With eight chromo-lithographs of rare ferns and 
many other plates and illustrations. i2mo. Cloth. $1.50. 

VOLUME IL 

The Structure and Hahits of Spiders. 

By J. H. Emerton. Fully illustrated. i2mo. Cloth. $1.50. 
OTHERS TO FOLLOW. 



FROI^TISPIECli;. 




FERNS 



[N THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



BY 



JOHN ROBINSON, 



PROFESSOR OF BOTANY AND VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY, MASSACHUSETTS 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, BOSTON; IN CHARGE DEPARTMENT 
OF BOTANY, PEABODY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, 
SALEM. 




SALEM : 
S. E. CASSINO, PUBLISHER, 
naturalists' agency. 

1878. 



Copyright, 1878, 
By S. E. CASSINO. 



-O^^ V:^^^ Stereotyped 
' ^ By C. J. Peters Son, 



Boston. 



©eljtcatton. 



I DEDICATE THIS LITTLE BOOK 

EDWIN COURTLAND BOLLES, 

AS A SLIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

FOR THE ASSISTANCE HE HAS SO KINDLY 
RENDERED ME IN ITS 
PREPARATION. 

J. R. 



\ 

i. 




INTRODUCTION. 




1ERN-CULTURE in America has still the char 
acteristics of novelty, although ferns have long 
been favorites in other lands ; for some of our 
New-England species have been under cultivation in Old 
England for two hundred and fifty years. John Trades- 
cant introduced into Europe, in 1628, the Cystopteris 
bulbifera and the Maiden-hair {Adiantimi pedaticni) ; 
while other species, including the Walking- Leaf Fern 
{^CamptosoriLs) and the Sensitive Fern {Onociea), soon 
followed. In the Kew Gardens at London, about the 
first of the present century, there were eighty-three spe- 
cies of exotic ferns under cultivation, while at the same 
time there were thirty species in the Botanic Garden at 
Berlin; and in 1866 the collection at Kew numbered 
more than a thousand species of exotic ferns. Besides 
the large collections of famous public institutions, there 
have been and are many private collections of ferns in 



viii 



INTRO D UCTION. 



England which rival and even surpass them. The com- 
petition is there so keen in obtaining fine specimens 
of rare ferns, that as much as fifty guineas (^250) has 
been paid for a single plant. It is not therefore to be 
wondered at, that, in countries where ferns have so long 
been under cultivation, numerous works upon the subject 
of their structure, growth, and culture, have appeared. 

In America there are but few large special collections 
of ferns, although there are many smaller ones as well 
as individual specimens of rare excellence. The beauti- 
ful ferns, palms, and other rare plants, exhibited by Mr. 
Such of New Jersey, in a side-room of the Horticultural 
Building at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, was 
the one redeeming thing among the contents of that great 
structure ; at least, at the time of the writer's visit in 
June, 1876. This was unfortunate, as it misrepresented 
the condition of American horticulture, besides being a 
severe criticism on the patriotism of American horticul- 
turists. 

There has not yet been published in this country 
any work devoted exclusively to the cultivation of ferns. 
There is, therefore, less hesitation on the writer's part in 
presenting to the public this little book, in which he has 
endeavored to adapt the subject and its illustrations to 
the wants of persons in the United States. He has, dur- 
ing the last ten years, followed in practice the theories and 



INTRO D UCTION. 



ix 



suggestions of the numerous English treatises on fern- 
culture ; and, without pretending to compete with these 
numerous and valuable as well as expensive works, he 
trusts that this volume may be of service to those in this 
country who desire to cultivate ferns, and need a guide 
especially adapted to the circumstances of their home. 

By introducing the subject with two chapters on the 
growth, structure, and classification of ferns, an attempt 
has been made to impress the mind of the beginner with 
an idea that a knowledge of these subjects will vastly add 
to his success. 

Numerous authors are quoted in the following pages, 
and it is believed that due acknowledgment has been 
made in every case where use has been made of the 
thoughts of others. 

The ^\Titer desires to express his gratitude to those who 
have aided and encouraged him during the preparation 
of the book. Among such friends are T. F. Hunt, Esq., 
who has kindly furnished the materials for some of the 
best designs given in the plates : and Dr. A. S. Packard, 
jun., who has not only furnished the valuable plate illus- 
trating the insects which destroy ferns, but has also kind- 
ly revised the chapter upon this subject, and added sev- 
eral points of value. j\Ir. Emerton has given great care 
to the drawing of the illustrations, and has certainly suc- 
ceeded in making them all that could be desired. 



X 



INTROD UCTION. 



The reader as well as the ^vriter is much indebted to 
Rev. E. C. Bolles of Salem for his work in revising the 
writer's manuscript. And last, but not least, the writer 
desires to express his appreciation of the liberality of the 
pubhsher, Mr. Cassino, who has without objection' several 
times amended the original plan of the book, although 
the changes have added considerably to the expense of 
pubHcation. 

2 Chestnut Street, Salem, 



June 1, 1878. 





CONTENTS, 



Introduction vii 

List of Abbreviations used xiii 

List and Description of Plates . . . . . xv 

L The Life of a Fern i 

IL Classification of Ferns 19 

IIL Distribution and Nomenclature of Ferns . 31 

IV. Something of the Literature of Ferns . 37 

V. How TO collect Ferns for Cultivation . 48 

VI. Ferneries out of Doors 54 

VII. Hints about Soils and Pots for Ferns . 65 

Vin. Tropical and Temperate Houses ... 71 

IX. Fern-Cases 83 

X. Ferns in the Living-Room . . . .107 

XL Special Ways of growing Ferns . . .111 

XIL Trp:e-Ferns 123 

XIII. Good Ferns for Cultivation . . . .130 

XIV. How to propagate Ferns 139 

XV. Other Cryptogams in Cultivation . . .149 

XVI. Selaginellas 157 

XVH. Flowerinc^Plants to Grow with Ferns . 165 

XVIIL Fern-Pests 168 

XIX. Conclusion 176 

xi 



ABBREVIATIONS. 



AUTHORITIES. 

A. Br A. Braun. 

Bernh Bernhardi. 

Boisd. Boisduval. 

Br Robert Brown. 

Cav A. J. Cavanilles. 

Col W. Colenso. 

Desv N. A. Desvaux. 

Forst John Reinhold Forster. 

H. & G Hooker & Greville. 

Hk. or Hook Sir William Jackson Hooker. 

H. B. K Humboldt, Bompland, and Kunth. 

Hort Of garden origin. 

Hoffm G. F. Hoffmann. 

J. Sm John Smith. 

Klf. or Kaulf. G. F. Kaulfuss. 

Klotz Dr. Klotzsch. 

L. or Linn Linnaeus. 

L. & F Langsdorf & Fischer. 

Lam J. Bapt. Monet de Lamark. 

Labill J. J. Labillardiere. 

Linn, f Linnaeus' son. 

L'Herit C. L. L'Heritier. 

Mett Dr. G. Mettenius. 

xiii 



xi V ABB RE VIA TIONS. 



Michx Michaux. 

Nutt Dr. Nuttall. 

R. Br Robert Brown. 

Rich J. L. Richard. 

Sm Sir James Edward Smith. 

Spr. or Spreng C. Sprengel. 

Sw Olaf Swartz. 

Wall Dr. Nathaniel Wallich. 

W. or Willd C. L. Willdenow. 

WORKS REFERRED TO. 

Beddome, F. S. I. . . Beddome's Ferns of Southern India. 

Beddome, F. B. I. . . Beddome's Ferns of British India. 

Eaton, Ferns N. A. . . Eaton's Ferns of North America. 

Gard. Chron Gardener's Chronicle, London. 

Hk. Ex. Flo Hooker's Exotic Flora. 

Hk. G. F Hooker's Garden Ferns. 

Hk. Fil. Ex Hooker's Filices Exoticas. 

Hk. 1st Cent. F. . . . Hooker's First Century of Ferns. 

Hk. 2d Cent. F. . . . Hooker's Second Century of Ferns. 

Hk. Sp. Fil Hooker's Species Filicum. 

H. & G. Ic. Fil. . . . Hooker & Greville's Icones Filicum. 

Lowe Lowe's Ferns, British and Exotic. 

Lowe, N. & R. F. . . . Lowe's vol. ix., or New and Rare Ferns. 



TERMS. 

fig., figure; ft., foot or feet ; fr., frond; in., mch or inches ; pi., plate. 



LIST AND DESCRIPTION OF 
PLATES. 



Frontispiece. — Corner of the writer's greenhouse, with BlecJi- 
mtm Brasiliense in centre; Loniaria gibba and Platycerhim alciconie 
below. The bell-glass covers a pan of Trichomaiies radicans. 
Hanging-baskets to the left. Fiats repens on the wall, and Selagi- 
nellas, Adiantu7ns,2C!\A Panicum variegahun in foreground. Young 
plant of B. Brasiliense at lower right-hand corner, and directly 
above it Nefhrodiiim setigerum. 

Plate I. — Out-of-door fernery. 

Plate II. — Notholcena dealbata, Kunze. 

Plate III. — Growth of a fern {Pteris serrnlata, Lin. f.) from 
the spore (figs. 5-18), as compared with that of a squash from the 
seed (figs. 1-4). i, squash-seed ; 2, the same with one cotyledon 
removed, showing the embryo ; 3, the same in longitudinal section 
to show plumule and radicle; 4, the same after one week's growth ; 
Pteris scrridata (after Moore), 5, spore; 6-9, growth prothallus ; 
9 a, antheridia ; 9 b, archegonia ; 10, two antheridia enlarged, the 
one at the right empty; 11, one cell of antheridium containing 
a single antherozoid ; 12, antherozoid enlarged; 13, archegonium, 
longitudinal section to show germinal vesicle ; 14, the same seen 
from above; 15, plant-bud starting underneath the prothallus 
(after Sachs) ; 16-18, various stages of young plant's growth. 

Plate IV. — Pellcea dejtsa, Ilk. 

Plate V. — Fern-structure (after Smith, Sachs, Hooker), i, 
enlarged spore-case of Polypodium ; 2, ditto of Gleichenia ; 3, 
ditto of Schiz(2a ; 4, sorus of Polypodium ; 5, spore-case of Os- 

XV 



xvi LIST AND DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 



micnda, enlarged ; 6, sorus of Marattia, enlarged ; 7, sorus ot 
Aspidhitn, enlarged ; 8, portion of a frond of Gymnogrammc, en 
larged to show the fruiting ; 9, fruit of Pteris ; 10, stem of Ptei-is , 
a, frond of the present season ; b, frond for next season ; c, con 
tinuation of stem ; the leaf-bud for the third season ; 11, root of 
a fern ; a, root-cap ; point of growth ; c, older portion of root. 
Plate VI. — Cheilanthes Coopercc, Eaton. 

Plate VII. — Dicksonia antarctica, Labill. From a plant six 
feet high. 

Plate VIII. — i, saucer and bell-glass, and, 2, pan and glass, 
for raising sporelings ; 3, tall flower-pot ; 4, pan showing holes 
for drainage ; 5, open-work pan ; 6, flower-pot, with flattened back ; 
7, ordinary flower-pot. 

Plate IX. — ^Yindow jardiniere. 

Plate X. — Chcilaitthes lanuginosa, N'ntt. 

Plate XI. — Iron-framed fernery, 

Plate XII. — Cheilanthes Calif arnica, Mett. 

Plate XIII. — Eastlake fernery. 

Plate XIV. — Camptosoms rhizophyllns, Link. 

Plate XV. — Home-made fernery : i, side-view complete ; 2, 
corner ; 3, 4, sections to show method of construction. 

Plate XVI. — Aspleninm rnta-vuiraria, L. 

Plate XVII. — Fernery with base of black stone-ware. 

Plate XVIII. — i. Cocoanut-shell basket; 2, Japanese fern- 
stand ; 3, Russian fern-stand. 

Plate XIX. — Boti-ychinm Limaria, Sw. ; Botrychiwn boreale, 
Milde ; showing enlarged fruit of the latter. 

Plate XX. — i, cocoanut-husk with stag-horn fern; 2, wire 
basket with Davallia ; 3, wire cylinder with ferns, showing method 
of construction. 

Plate XXI. — Chinese fern-stand. 

Plate XXII. — Fern-pests (cuts loaned by Dr. Packard) : i, 
Aleurodes vaporarium, Westivood, and, 4, pupa of the same; 2, 
Hcliothrips hczmo7'rhoidalis, Haliday ; 3, Abia caprifolii, N'orton ; 
5, Lecaninm platycerii, Packard ; 6, Coccns adonidum, L. ; 7, Leca- 
nium filicnin, Boisd., seen from beneath ; 8, the same seen from 
above ; 9, Aphis. All the figures are more or less magnified. 



CHAPTER 1. 



THE LIFE OF A FERN. 



make a proper study of the life-history 

1 of a fern would require more space than 
1 the few pages which can be allotted to the 

subject here. And, besides, no thorough investi- 
gation of the matter could be made without a care- 
ful microscopic examination of the fern itself in 
all its forms and at the various stages of its 
growth. A glance at the subject will, however, 
be better than nothing : so let us begin at once by 
examining the spore from which the fern originates. 

The spores of cryptogamous plants are the 
same in purpose and use as the seeds of flowering 
plants ; but in structure a seed and a spore are 
very different. A seed contains a definite embryo 
or rudimentary plant of the kind which is to be 
produced by its growth. Take, for exafmple, the 
seed of a squash (PI. 3, Figs 1-3). Open it, and, 
besides the two large cotyledons or seed-leaves, we 
find between them the bud {plumule) which is to 



2 



FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



form the vine ; and, below this, the little point 
{radicle) which is the beginning of the future root. 
But in a spore (PI. 3, Fig. 5), no matter how highly 
it may be magnified, there is nothing to be distin- 
guished, except the bit of protoplasm contained 
within a membrane or cell-wall, which forms the 
outer coat or covering of the spore. Hence it 
may at once be seen that the method of the fern's 
growth must, at the outset and very materially, dif- 
fer from that of an ordinary flowering plant. To 
establish, however, all the relations between the 
lower and the higher forms of plant-life, to specify 
their analogies and define their differences, can 
only be done by careful observation of the lower 
orders of Phanerogams (flowering plants), as well 
as the higher orders of Vascular Cryptogams ; and, 
when this was made, we should find the fact very 
evident, that in passing from the lowest to the 
highest forms the ascent was so gradual as to 
make it extremely diflicult to draw the line of sepa- 
ration between Phanerogams and Cryptogams, no 
matter how widely-isolated specimens from each 
might appear to differ. 

The spores of ferns are to be looked for in most 
species on the back or under side of the fronds, or, 
in others,* on more or less contracted and altered 
fronds. When ripe, the spores will fall upon a 
paper on which a fertile frond is left to dry. If 
we select such a frond, and examine it with a 



THE LIFE OF A FERN. 



3 



pocket lens (one that will magnify eight or ten 
diameters will answer), we shall generally find that 
the spores fall from little cases {sporangia), which 
are collected in groups {sorus, pi. sort). These 
(see PI. 5, Fig. 7) are usually on or at the termina- 
tion of a little vein. Sometimes they are in circu- 
lar patches on the vein, and unprotected by any 
covering, as in Poly podium (PI. 5, Fig. 4) ; some- 
times they are covered or protected by a little 
membrane, which may be attached at the centre 
as in AspidiiLin (PI. 5, Fig. 7), or on one side as in 
Asplenium. Sometimes the cases are in lines 
along the whole length of the vein, as in the Cali- 
fornia Gold-Fern {Gymnogramme triangularis) (PI. 
5, Fig. 8) ; or along the entire edge of the leaflet 
(pinnule), as in Pteris (PI. 5, Fig. 9) ; or, again, along 
the edge in detached groups, as in the Maiden-hair 
{Adianttiin). The sporangia of ferns are found to 
have five quite distinct forms, upon which the 
Orders are founded. With the largest order, the 
PolypodiacecB, the spore-cases are stalked, and have 
around them a vertical ring of cells more elastic 
than those of which the rest of the case is com- 
posed (PI. 5, Fig. i). When the spores are ripe, 
this ring contracts, rupturing the case, and allowing 
the spores to be discharged into the air, where they 
fly off like dust. The common Poly podium, Aspi- 
dium, and Asplenium are illustrations. With the 
Lygodiums and Anemias the spore-cases are sessile, 



4 



FERA^S IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



in rows, and are minute nut-like bodies, with the 
elastic ring around the upper portion (PI. 5, Fig. 3). 
With the OsmundaSy again, the spore-cases are 
stalked ; but the ring is represented by a rudiment 
on one side only (PI. 5, Fig. 5). With the GleicJie- 
nias, an order not represented by any native North- 
American species, the ring is perfect, but passes 
horizontally around the spore-case (PI. 5, Fig. 2). 
This order comprises many beautiful tropical ferns 
of a climbing habit. With the Marattacece the 
spores are in pod-like cases quite unlike those of 
other ferns (PI. 5, Fig. 6) : in fact, the difference is 
so great, that Sachs, in his Text-Book of Botany," 
contemplates their removal to a separate class by 
themselves, although most of their characters 
agree with the regular type. The Botrychiums 
(PI. 19) {OphioglossacccB) differ so much from ferns 
in general, and it is so clear, as shown by Sachs, 
that they belong to another class of plants, that we 
will for the present pass them by, and consider 
them at a later moment among the Fern Allies. 

Among ferns of the various orders, the mode of 
development from the spore is not always exactly 
the same. There is not sufficient difference be- 
tween them, however, to prevent us from consider- 
ing Pteris sermlata, the one we have chosen as an 
example, to serve as an illustration of all. The 
spores of ferns should usually be sown soon after 
they are ripe. Some, however, are said to retain 



THE LIFE OF A FERN. 



5 



their vitality for several years, as it has been found 
possible to develop plants from the spores of her^ 
barium specimens. After the spores have been 
placed in some suitable receptacle for a few days, 
or perhaps weeks, a greenish scum will be noticed 
covering the damp surface on which they have 
been sown. This is the first stage of fern growth. 
It occurs thus : The outer cell-wall iexospore) is rup- 
tured by the moisture, and the cell-contents {endo- 
spore) protrude, and begin to divide, the division 
forming new cells, which join themselves to the 
first. A continuance of this process gives rise, 
successively, to the various forms shown in PI. 
3, Figs. 5-9, until bodies are produced which 
are shown highly magnified in Figs. 10-14. 
These little shield-shaped structures grow very 
thickly together, and are attached to the earth, 
or whatever substance they have taken to -ger- 
minate upon, by root hairs, — not true roots. 
They rest at such an angle here, that they be- 
come imbricated, and, except that they are some- 
what more erect, resemble in this arrangement 
the scales on a butterfly's wing, or the slates upon 
a roof. The prothalliLS, as each of these bodies 
is called, is composed of cells containing grains of 
chlorophyll, which gives the whole its green color. 
On the protJialliis, projecting from the under side, 
are the organs which are analogous to the stamens 
and pistils of flowering plants. They are, I. The 



6 FERNS. IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



antJieridia, which are situated rather more than 
half way between the little notch or sinus at the 
upper edge of the prothallus and the lower edge. 
They consist of cells more rounded than the rest, 
and which contain still other and smaller cells. 
Each of these last contains, in its turn, one spirally- 
coiled antherozoid (see PI. 3, Figs. 10-12). When 
the anthet'ozoids are perfected, the enveloping cells 
burst, and they are set free. They are the male 
element, analogous to the pollen of flowers. II. 
The archegonia, or those organs which are analo- 
gous to the pistils of flowers with their ovaries, 
are usually less numerous than the anthei'idia, and 
are situated nearer the sinus of ih.Q pro ihalhis (PI. 
3, Figs. 13-14). They consist of cells so arranged 
as to form a tube around a central cell, which is 
called the odspJiere, and is the point to be fertilized 
and produce the plant-bud. The outer end of the 
tube remains open till fertilization has taken place, 
after which it closes. In the particular species 
we have chosen for observation, the anthcridia 
and archegonia are usually on the same prothallus : 
but in some species the male and female organs 
are on different protJialli ; or, at least, not per- 
fected at the same time on the same one. This 
renders cross-fertilization occasionally necessary 
in this class of plants, and shows the possibility 
of finding hybrid ferns, of which, as stated in the 
next chapter, our Asplenmm ebenoides is by many 



THE LIFE OF A FERN. 



7 



authors supposed to be an example. However 
the case may be, the antherozoids find their way 
at last to the entrance of the tubes of the arche- 
goniay and force themselves in and down to the 
oosphereSy which thus are fertilized. The true 
growth of the fern, as we see it, now begins 
from the fertilized odsphere. The roots are 
formed, and pass downward ; the leaf-bud assumes 
shape, and, being partially inverted, curves upward, 
taking its natural position, as shown in PI. 3, 
Figs. 15-18. The central portion of th.& prothalluSy 
where the plant-bud starts, grows thicker than the 
portion nearer the edge, where there is hardly 
more than one tier of cells. This thickened part 
is by some authors called the cushion. In some 
ferns the antheridial cells are found on the outer 
portion of the prothallus, forming projections 
there. With the Filmy Ferns {Hymenophyllacece) 
the structure and mode of growth is in many ways 
different from these sketched, affording resem- 
blances to certain genera among the mosses. Al- 
though there may be several archegonia on each 
prothalluSj it rarely happens that more than one 
of them is fertilized : therefore but one plant is 
usually produced from a single spore. Professor 
W. G. Farlow has discovered that there is also a 
reproduction by a sort of budding process, which 
sometimes takes place on the prothalli of ferns, 
and is analogous to the office of buds on the 



8 



FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



leaves of Begonia and BryopJiyllinn, as alluded to 
hereafter. This discovery was described to the 
Linnasan Society of London, in 1874, in a paper 
there read by Professor Farlow. In " Ferns, Brit- 
ish and Foreign," by John Smith, London, 1866, 
is the following interesting paragraph: ''Another 
point of some practical importance is, that, in 
general, only a single plant-bud is formed on each 
prothallium. This may be supposed to be owing 
to the vital function of the prothallium not being 
able to support more, — in that respect analogous 
to only one ovulum being fertilized in the ovaries 
of many flowering plants. Admitting that, then 
how are we to explain, that, in removing the plant- 
bud, a new bud is formed, and that even as many 
as eight or ten have been obtained from prothallia 
of HymenophylliLm crinitiim, each of which by 
proper care becomes a plant ? Then, again, experi 
ments have shown that by dividing the prothallium 
from the base upwards, with a sharp instrument, 
into two or even four parts, each produces a plant- 
bud. Seeing this, it is reasonable to infer that 
prothallia have the power of producing plant-buds 
analogous to the leaves of Begonias and othei 
plants ; but whether such is the case, or each bud 
is the result of the action of spermatozoids upon 
latent archegonia, is not known." 

To those who are in haste to cultivate ferns, 
either in the greenhouse, fernery, or out of doors, 



THE LIFE OF A FERN. 



9 



it may seem like dry work to linger in a careful 
study of their structure, growth, or habits. But 
to do good work in any thing, it is, as a rule, 
better to be well grounded at the outset in the 
fundamental principles of the subject. The culti- 
vation of ferns is no exception to this statement. 
In order to know the proper size and shape of pan 
into which a fern should be placed, it is quite 
important to understand the habit of the plant, — 
whether the roots are inclined to strike deeply into 
the ground from an erect stem, as in Lomaria 
gibba, or to spread laterally from a much-forked 
rhizome below the surface, as in Pteris aqidlina, or 
to only penetrate slightly into the soil from a rhi- 
zome creeping over the surface. So let us consider 
the various parts of the fern as it grows. 

If a healthy specimen of one of the Maiden-hair 
ferns, growing in a pot, be inverted and carefully 
slipped out, it will be noticed, that, at the end of 
each of the little black, wire-like roots, there will 
be a portion, some two millimetres in length, 
which is light in color ; indeed, almost white. The 
extreme tip of this appears brownish if examined 
with a pocket lens. An enlarged view of a section 
through the centre of a root-tip will be found PI. 5, 
Fig. 1 1 ; and it will be seen that the browner 
portion, a, at the extremity, is composed of closer 
and tougher cells than the rest. It is, in fact, a 
cap ; which, like the bark of a tree, grows and 



10 



FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



increases from within, and is continually worn 
away on the outside as it is pushed ahead by the 
lengthening of the root. The lightest portion of 
the figure marked b c represents the true root ; and 
the longitudinal growth takes place between the 
points b and r, this portion being the only part of 
the root capable of absorbing much nourishment. 
This absorption occurs through the outer cells and 
root-hairs. The darker parts of the roots do not 
continue to lengthen, — a fact obvious after a 
moment's thought ; as, if they did, the whole mass 
of roots would become tangled and knotted, and 
healthy circulation made impossible for the matter 
which is absorbed at the tips. Now, it will be 
seen how injurious it must be to roughly tear up, 
or pull to pieces, the mass of roots, when we are 
removing or transplanting ferns. These remarks 
may be applied as well to other plants ; for it can 
be understood that if the only living portion of 
the root, so to speak, be torn off, the plant is 
again reduced to the condition of an ordinary 
fresh cutting, which has again to go through the 
process of forming roots. The two extreme forms 
of the stem, or rhizome, in ferns, may be illustrat- 
ed by Pteris aqtnlina (PI. 5, Fig. 10) and any tree- 
fern (PI. 7). The former apparently throws up 
its fronds here and there separately from some 
invisible point : the latter regularly unfolds its 
crown from immediately within the circle of fronds 
last unfolded. 



THE LIFE OF A FERN. 



II 



If we carefully (every thing in the study of 
ferns must be done with care) dig up, in August, 
a plant of Pteris aquilina^ we shall find, that, 
beyond the base of the fronds perfected the pres- 
ent season (see a, in PI. 5, Fig. 10), there is 
a short, woolly-covered, rudimentary frond {b), 
which, if nicely dissected, will be found to have 
the beginning of the portion which is to expand 
next season closely folded over on its summit. 
Still farther on, along the underground stem, we 
shall discover at its extreme end (marked c) the 
rudiment of the frond for the third season, which 
is not to see the Hght for two years. At d is the 
continuation of the rhizome : in nature the stem 
will be more extended than in the figure, as the 
distances between the fronds will be proportionally 
greater. If we examine the crown of a tree-fern, 
or AspidiiLin sphmlosum, or A. marginale, we shall 
find circle within circle of little heads, the rudi- 
mentary fronds for succeeding years. As the 
outermost of these develop year by year, fresh 
ones are formed at the centre to keep up the 
supply. If we now imagine the tree-fern laid 
upon its side just beneath the surface of the 
ground, and its crown turned up at the end so as 
to allow the fronds to assume an erect position, 
we shall have something very much like the As- 
pidiuiHy or perhaps more like a Strut Jiiopteris. To 
follow out the comparison still more, it is only 



12 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



necessary to imagine that the crown, instead of 
being turned to an erect position, still remains 
upon its side, and that the fronds only become 
erect as they develop. We shall then have a 
plant of the character of Asplenmm filix-foemina^ 
or Woodwardia Virginica ; and, to connect these 
ferns with the extreme form of the Ptcris, it will 
be only necessary to suppose the loose crown of 
the Woodwardia so elongated that only one frond 
will be found to every inch of stem, and the 
terminal point of growth to keep at a given dis- 
tance below the surface of the ground. The 
importance of observation and the possession of 
knowledge upon these subjects is very great ; as 
will be found when ferns are to be collected in 
the woods or fields for transplanting, or specimens 
are to be chosen from the greenhouse for the 
fernery, or especially when the species for basket 
culture are to be selected. 

The leaves or fronds of ferns vary greatly in 
texture and cutting. Familiarity with their tex- 
ture will greatly aid the cultivator in determining 
the situation in which a new-comer must be placed 
when its proper natural surroundings are not al- 
ready known. If a bit of the under cuticle of a 
frond be examined by the microscope with a 
power of fifty to one hundred diameters, the stoma- 
ta or breathing-pores will be seen. They are the 
same as upon the leaves of flowering plants, and 



THE LIFE OF A FERN. 



13 



according to their greater or less number will the 
fern require a moister or dryer atmosphere. Should 
the air of the fern-house or case become too dry, 
and the plant be insufBciently watered, the evapo- 
ration of water from the stomata will exceed the 
supply from the earth, and the fronds will soon 
become wilted. If a fern of less active habit be 
placed in too moist an atmosphere, and too pro- 
fusely watered, it will not endure the wrong condi- 
tion, but mould and die. Some ferns, however, 
possess the power of enduring great extremes of 
moisture and drought. Such is the case with 
many of our South-western species, where, in the 
dry season, the fronds curl up, and remain in that 
condition till again revived in the wet months by 
the rain. Their roots doubtless penetrate deeply 
into the crevices of the rocks where the plants 
grow ; and great vitality is retained in the crown 
from which the fronds spring, and which, like the 
fronds themselves, is often protected by a dense 
coat of soft scales. The two species Cheilanthes 
lanuginosa (PI. 10) and Notholcena dealbata (PI. 2) 
are examples of this habit. 

The writer received from a friend a plant of 
Cryptogramme crispa^ which had been collected in 
California two months before. No pains had been 
taken to preserve the roots ; there was no earth 
with it ; nor had the plant received a drop of 
water during the entire time which it had spent 



14 



FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



in travelling about the country in a trunk. From 
curiosity, the little crown of this fern was planted ; 
and it was matter of great surprise that in a 
few weeks it developed several fronds. In cul- 
tivation, all ferns of this habit require special 
treatment. 

The frond of a fern represents something more 
than the ordinary leaf of a plant. Often the 
merest rudiments only of the leaflets (pimtcB) are 
to be found in the young frond just unfolding; 
while, as the frond unrolls, they develop and grow 
to their perfect shape. Under favorable circum- 
stances, the frond of some species seems capable 
of indefinite development, as in NepJuvlcpis exal- 
tata ; and, again, there is in some genera {Gleiche- 
niay for example) a tendency to a dichotomous 
(forking) growth, which is often repeated from 
the same frond during a second season. Another 
remarkable feature of the fronds of some ferns is 
the development of viviparous buds, either frpm 
the under side, as in Cystopteris bzdbifera, or 
above, as in Aspleiimm biilbiferum. In Cystopteris 
these bulblets fall off and grow during the second 
season ; but in most species which have vivipa- 
rous bulbs they remain attached to the frond, and 
develop several leaves while still drawing their 
nourishment from the parent frond. This habit 
has a parallel in nearly all plants, from the lowest 
AlgcB to the highest Phaiierogams, It might be 



THE LIFE OF A FERN. 



15 



illustrated by the Zoospores or swarm-spores of 
the lower Algce^ as in Conferva, the common 
green scum seen in stagnant water ; or the tetra- 
spores of the Floridece, seaweeds of a higher grade. 
The gemm<2 of the HepaticcB and Mosses represent 
the same thing : in these the little seed-like buds 
are scattered, and reproduce the species which 
bore them, without any fertilization whatever. 
The Lycopodiitms supply instances of this same 
phenomenon, and it is of quite common occur- 
rence among flowering plants. Illustrations are 
found in Begonia and Bryopkylhtm, and particu- 
larly in the familiar bulblets of the Tiger-Lily, 
which are found at the base of each leaf, and are 
to be considered as detached axillary buds con- 
densed in form as they are separated from the 
plant. 

A farinaceous substance, white or yellow, is 
sometimes developed on the under side of some 
ferns, and, in one or two varieties, on the other 
side also. It is often thick enough to cover and 
hide the fruit. This gives the popular names 
"Gold" and ''Silver" ferns to such species. It 
occurs most frequently with Gymnogramme and 
Notholcena (see PI. 2). Occasionally upon the 
same plant of G. calomelanos will be found some 
fronds with white, and others with yellow farina. 
All plants of this habit should be carefully kept 
out of the way of dripping water, and should not 



1 6 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



be syringed, as this will destroy their beautiful 
appearance. 

We now come to consider the fruit, which 
brings us around to the point from which we 
started. The spore-cases, as we have seen, vary 
in size and shape ; but in all instances they arise 
from the outer layer of cells of the frond upon 
which they are borne. They hence represent 
what Sachs calls trichoines (hairs), being developed 
in the same manner from the external layer of cells 
as are the hairs on the root, stem, leaves, &c., 
of plants. If a careful examination be made, with 
the aid of a pocket lens, of a collection of spore- 
cases on the back of a frond, there will frequently 
be found among them some which have not devel- 
oped, and are still only hairs, sometimes jointed 
and club-shaped at the end. The condition of the 
frond on which the fruit is borne being changed 
from that of the sterile one, it would naturally 
result that the development of leaf-tissue would be 
sacrificed to produce the vast quantity of sori 
which most ferns have ; and accordingly we find 
that the fertile fronds are usually distinguishable 
from the sterile ones, as being more contracted. 
To such an extent is this contraction carried, that 
we finally see the entire leafy portion disappear, 
and the fertile frond consist of a mass of spore- 
cases, connected and held together by the veins 
of the frond only, as in Osniunda; or by the small- 




NOTHOL.ENA DEALBATA. KUNZE. 



THE LIFE OF A FERN. 



17 



est amount of tissue possible, as in the Onoclea, 
Among plants of Osrmmda cinnamomea a curious 
form is often found, where portions of the fertile 
frond have developed sterile leaflets {pinnce), re- 
sembling somewhat O. Claytoniana in appearance, 
and showing that the fertile is but a differentiated 
sterile frond. 



i8 



FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



Table to show the position occupied by Ferns in the 
classificatio7i of Plants, 

< Dicotyledons (Roses, Oaks, Composites, &c.). 
Phanerogams \ Monocotyledons (IJlies, Palms, Grasses, &c.). 

I Gymnosperms (Pines, Spruces, Cycads, &c.). 

{r Selaginella. 
I^ycopodiaceae . \ Lycopodium 
Rhizocarpeae 



Vascular Cryp- 
togams 



Isosporous 



MuscinesB 



CharaceaD 



Thallophytes 



I Isoetes. 

Marselia. 

Salvinia. 

^ , . , ( Botrychium. 

Ophioglossaceae < ^ , . 

( Ophioglossum. 

. \ Equisetum. 

I Polypodium. 
* j Aspidium, &c. 

f Sphagnum, 
j Bryum. 
I Polytrichum, 

&c., &c. 
r March antia. 
. \ Jungermannia, 
I &c., &c. 
Chara. 
NiteJla. 

[Lichens.] 
Trufifles. 
Mushrooms. 
Toadstools. 
Wheat-smut. 
Potato-rot. 
Mildew. 
Seaweeds. 
Confervae. 
Desmids. 
Diatoms. 



Equisetaceae 



FiLICES . 



Musci 



Hepaticae 



. \ Characeas 
[Myxomycetes.] 



Fungi 



Algae 



CHAPTER II. 



CLASSIFICATION OF FERNS. 



HP' 



N order that we may better understand the 
position occupied by the ferns in the clas- 
sification of the vegetable kingdom, let 
us examine the table which precedes this chapter, 
and in which the groups, classes, and orders will 
be found carried out in the several columns. The 
arrangement is taken chiefly from Sachs' invalu- 
able work, A Text-Book of Botany." The low- 
est vegetable forms are at the bottom of the page ; 
and, as we ascend, we reach the higher ones. The 
column at the left contains the great groups, Pha- 
nerogams, Vascular Cryptogams, 8zc. ; that is, the 
plants contained in these groups have sufficient 
differences to make it proper to arrange them in 
this manner. For instance, we can say that all 
Thallophytes possess characters which relate them 
to each other ; while none of them have woody bun- 
dles, a character which distinguishes Vascular Cryp- 
togams from the groups below them, and is com- 

19 



20 



FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



mon to all the divisions of Vascular Cryptogams. 
Again : it will be seen that there are differences 
between the Cryptogams themselves (the four lower 
groups), as great as the differences between Cryp- 
togams and Phanerogams : i.e., a toadstool (one of 
the Thallophytes) is as much below a Poly podium 
as the Polypodium is below a sunflower (one of the 
Phanerogams). 

In the second column we find the various classes 
into which the groups are divided. About mid- 
way in this column we find the ferns {Filices) as a 
division of the Vasctclar Cryptogams, It will be 
noticed that .with the ferns, under the heading 
IsosporouSy are the Eqiiisetacece and OphioglossacecE. 
This signifies that these three clusters of plants 
produce but one sort of spores; which fact dis- 
tinguishes them from the Lycopodiacecs and Rhizo- 
carpecs, which produce two sorts, male and female, 
and are denominated Heterosporous. The Lycopods 
and Rhizocarps are thus more like the Phanerogams 
or flowering plants, which have pollen, the male, 
and an ovule, the female, element. Again : the 
ferns have upon their leaves stomata (breathing- 
pores), as do the flowering plants : hence they 
must be placed in advance of the mosses and 
Fungiy as these latter never have such organs. 
Between the Characece and Fungi will be found in 
brackets the Myxomycetes. These are plants hav- 
ing somewhat the character of Fimgi, which flour- 



CLASSIFICATION OF FERNS. 



21 



ish upon old rotten logs, tan, &c. They have a 
peculiar jelly-like form, and are capable of slow 
motion, absorbing their nourishment, as they pro- 
ceed, from the substance on which they live. They 
are not yet well enough understood to be definitely 
placed in the system of classification. Passing to 
the Fimgi and Algce^ we observe that these are two 
classes of plants possessing certain parallel char- 
acters of development : thus the lower Algcs have 
certain characters in common with the lower Fungi ; 
while the higher Ficngi and Algce, though vastly 
more developed than the lower ones, have similar 
features, each to each. This relates particularly 
to their methods of producing fruit. It has there- 
fore been proposed that they should be considered 
to be two groups, parallel and equally advanced, 
called the colored {Algce) and the colorless {Fungi). 
This brings us to the Lichens, which unite the last 
two groups in their organization. 

The Lichens are now considered by the most emi- 
nent botanists to belong rather to the Fungi than 
to any other class. Their nature is thus stated by 
Sachs : There can no longer be any doubt that 
the lichens are true fungi, but distinguished by a 
singular parasitism. Their hosts are algae, which 
grow normally in damp places, but not actually in 
water. The fungi (the lichen-forming fungi) them- 
selves are not found in any other form than as 
parasites on algae ; while the algae which are at- 



2 2 FERNS m THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



tacked by them are known in the free condition 
without the fungus." Nothing more than this 
clear statement is needed to explain the position 
of these plants. 

As most books now in use pass hastily over the 
OphioglossacecB, and place them at the end of 
the list of ferns, it may be well to ask what are the 
differences between this order and the true ferns. 
They are placed in a division by themselves, as 
equal in value to the ferns, and in some directions 
are more highly developed than the EqidsetacecBy 
which follow them in the list. First, the Eqtci- 
setacecB and OpJiioglossacece all have their mode of 
vernation identical with that of Phanerogams ; i.e., 
they all come up straight from the ground ; while all 
ferns are circinate, or unroll from the base upward. 
Again : the fruit of the Ophioglossacece arises from 
the transformation of leaf-tissue ; while in the 
ferns it is an outgrowth from the leaf. Other 
characters of root, bud, and mode of reproduction, 
which need only this allusion here, combine with 
those described to show that the OphioglossacecB 
are in advance of the EquisetacecB and the ferns. 

Glancing at the third column in the table, it 
may be noted, that of the Vascular Cryptogams, 
MuscinecB and Characece, the principal gener^a are 
given ; while among the Phaiterogams and Thallo- 
phytes only enough examples are given to enable 
the reader to understand the divisions. We have 



CLASSIFICATION OF FERNS. 



23 



sufficiently discussed the arrangement to see that 
ferns belong to the isosporous division of the group 
of Vascular Cryptogams. They have, therefore, but 
one spore, and possess woody bundles in their 
tissue. And, as we have examined the growth of 
a fern in Chapter L, we have also discovered that 
ferns have a visible alternation of generations, as 
it is called. This means that they are not directly 
produced from the seed as are flowering plants, 
but their fertilization takes place by means of free 
moving bodies (antherozoids) upon minute shield- 
like structures (prothalli), which were themselves 
developed . directly from the spore, without any 
fertilization having taken place. 

We now come to look more closely at the ferns 
themselves. The class Filices is divided into 
orders, genera, and species. This suggests a pro- 
found question, which has puzzled wiser heads 
than will ever trouble themselves to read this 
book, and one which has been discussed by Dar- 
win, Huxley, and almost every eminent scientist 
in the world : What is a species f As it is the 
unit by which we count in studying any classifica- 
tion, we need to understand it as clearly as possi- 
ble. Smith, in his "Historia Filicum," London, 
1875, says, "The difficulty of defining a species 
becomes evident on taking a view of the numerous 
forms which connect one species with another. 
It will be found beyond human power to ascertain 



24 FERNS IN- THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



whether the several gradations of allied forms are 
descendants of primitive specific creations, or are, 
according to the Darwinian theory of the ' origin 
of species,' only derivations from primordial crea- 
tions endowed with a protean principle which 
becomes manifest during the lapse of ages, and 
controlled by the different climatic and local influ- 
ences under which the progeny of the original 
have become established, and which now form the 
flora of the earth." 

The definition given of a species, " a collection 
of individuals identical one with another, and 
capable of reproducing their like from age to age," 
is quite in contrast with what has just been quoted. 
Therefore, when we find that doctors disagree," 
it does not require much courage to say of a 
species that it is to be treated as genera, orders, 
and classes have long been, and is what we choose 
to make it ; and also that the best way to decide 
upon the merits of any one case is to accept the 
judgment of the most eminent authors who may 
have given special study to its forms as to what 
the limits of the species shall be. Let us there- 
fore, for convenience' sake, consider that a species 
is a collection' of individuals varying but slightly 
one from another, and capable of producing their 
like ; and that the limits of the species shall be 
according to the best judgment of those having 
the advantage of the most specimens for compari- 



CLASSIFICA TIOiV OF FERA^S. 



25 



son ; and, lastly, that it is as yet but a group of 
individuals placed together for convenience in ar- 
ranging a systematic classification of the whole. 

Taking an average among authors, we may say 
that there are 2,500 species of ferns. Hooker's 
" Synopsis Filicum," in its first edition, gives 2,228 
species: in the second, by Baker in 1874, there 
are mentioned 2,646. Linnaeus knew but 190 
species. 

These species are united, according to various 
authors, into genera, which number from eleven 
to two hundred and thirty, as follows : — 



Linnaeus 1 1 

Presl 230 

F^e(i852) 181 

Moore (1857) 178 

Hooker and Baker (1874) .... 76 

J. Smith (1875) • • • • • • 220 



There is much to be said against multiplying 
species ; but it is certainly fair to admit with Smith 
that it is easier to remember six or eight genera, 
each containing fifty species, than to carry in the 
mind the four hundred and forty-eight species of 
Polypodium as given by Hooker and Baker in 
1874. The various genera are constructed upon 
the different modes of fruiting, and the position of 
the fruit upon the frond : as, for instance, whether 
or not there be a covering {jndtismiit) to protect 
the spore-cases; whether the fruit be at the middle 



26 



FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



or termination of a vein, &c. These genera are 
again united into orders, based upon the form of 
the spore-case and the position of the ring of cells 
which is found upon most sporangia. Hooker 
(" Synopsis Filicum "), the authority most frequent- 
ly quoted, has five orders, or sub-orders, as, accord- 
ing to his mode of dividing, they become. Aside 
from the Ophioglossttnis, they run thus : — 

(Ring horizontal) I. Gleiclieniaceae (2 gen., 24 sp.) 

(Ring vertical) II. Polypodiaceae (13 tribes) (59 gen., 2,098 sp.) 

(Ring at one side) III. Osmundaceae (2 gen., 10 sp.) 

(Ring apical) IV. Schizseaceae (5 gen., 60 sp.) 

(No ring) V. Marattiaceae (4 gen., 20 sp.) 

This very unequal division gives tho. Polypodiacece 
five-sixths of all the genera and twenty-six twenty- 
sevenths of all the species. Hooker and Baker 
also divide the genera into tribes, and in the large 
genera distribute the species among sections or 
sub-genera. 

Smith, in the " Historia Filicum," divides the 
ferns thus : I. Eremobria, those ferns whose fronds 
are articulated along a creeping stem, and break 
off, leaving a scar, like the leaves of deciduous trees 
in autumn (example, Polypodmui) ; H. Desmobria^ 
ferns whose fronds remain attached, and are pro- 
duced from a crown (Aspidmm) ; and, HI. Scapho- 
brya, fronds terminal, rising from between two 
appendages, and articulated with the caudex {Ma- 
rattid). Those sections he then subdivides into 



CLASSIFICATION OF FERNS. 



27 



twenty-nine tribes, arranged according to natural 
characteristics, and broken up into two hundred 
and twenty genera. Although this arrangement 
is very little in use, the division of species in it is 
much more equal and less artificial than the other 
system, and is to be strongly commended. Mr. 
Smith's long service at Kew Gardens, where he 
had under his care and constant observation some- 
times a thousand species of ferns, and where he 
had the use of the largest herbarium of ferns in 
the world, gives his opinion great weight. 

Sachs, complaining of the artificial manner in 
which the Filices are divided by various authors, 
proposes a classification in which the Hymenophyl- 
lacecs (Filmy Ferns and Bristle Ferns) shall be 
placed at the bottom, instead of the middle of the 
list as with most authors, because these are ferns 
peculiar for their small size and thin fronds, and 
are more nearly related to the mosses than are other 
ferns. His orders are, — 

1. Hymenophyllaceae. 4. Osmundaceae. 

2. Gleicheniaceae. 5. Cyatheaceae. 

3. Schizasaceas. 6. Polypodiacese. 

Marattiacece, included in Hooker's classification, 
he says should, on account of the formation of its 
fruit, be placed beside the Equisetacece and the 
OphioglossacecB. 

We have now learned what place ferns occupy 
in a general classification of plants, and how they 



28 



FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



are themselves divided into species. Now, the 
species are again divided into varieties. Where 
there does not seem to be sufficient reason to 
make a separate species for it, the new fern to be 
described is placed as a variety of some already 
existing species. Here authors differ as much as 
anywhere else. For instance, Hooker, in " Synopsis 
Filicum," unites under OphioglossiLin midicaide six 
species of other authors, he considering them vari- 
eties only. Besides the ordinary varieties found 
in nature, the desire for new ferns has given 
rise to an enormous number of cultivated or gar- 
den varieties. These are "sports" from plants, 
carefully preserved and perpetuated by nursery- 
men and gardeners. A few among these are 
perhaps beautiful or curious ; but the great majori- 
ty are horrible deformities of the original species 
from which they started, and serve no useful 
purpose whatever, except perhaps to prove how 
much a species may be made to vary in a short 
time, and to compare this with what might be 
done in one of the earth's great periods. The 
writer has before him the catalogue of a dealer 
who advertises fifty-one varieties of Aspleiiitim 
Filix-foemina ! Cooke, in his little book, "A 
Fern Book for Everybody," remarks that some 
painstaking people have hunted up and described 
eighty-five varieties of Scolopendritim vulgare^ — 
"love's labor lost," or at least fearfully wasted. 



CLASSIFICA TION OF FERNS. 



29 



Some of these cultivated varieties are so different 
from their progenitors, that even the genus to 
which they are supposed to belong is with difhculty 
suspected. It is as if we were to encourage and 
produce a quantity of malformed dogs and cats, 
or children it may be, and revel in their hideous 
shapes and disguised forms. The writer may be 
influenced by prejudice against this sort of cul- 
ture ; but it seems to him like trifling with the 
good and beautiful gifts which Nature has be- 
stowed. 

There may be hybrids among ferns. Asplenmm 
ebenoides is supposed by some authors to be one. 
If it is, it is the result of the prothallus of one 
species being fertilized by the antherozoids of 
another species, or even genus. This is not 
impossible ; as it is shown that sometimes a pro- 
thallus cannot be fertilized within itself, and there- 
fore it must be that the antherozoids reach it from 
another. Should they come from the prothallus 
of another species, a hybrid would be the conse- 
quence ; if from that of the same species, it would 
be an example of cross-fertilization only, and in- 
teresting to Mr. Darwin. 

If this chapter has not produced utter confusion 
in the reader's mind, it may have sufflciently indi- 
cated the confusion and discord in botanical classi- 
fication ; so that it may be understood that the 
name of a fern, as indicating its rank and place, is 



3° 



FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



not the work of a superior intelligence, but only 
the imperfect work of man to aid him in his 
endeavors to classify the productions of nature in 
the most natural way. Here we are led to speak 
of what is called synonymy. It is evident, that as 
authors differ in their arrangement and names of 
species, genera, orders, &c., so they differ in the 
names applied to the same ferrhs. If several 
botanists obtain and describe the same fern, inde- 
pendently of each other, each will give it a differ- 
ent name, and these names will be called synonymes. 
This has been done for so long and so often, that 
we sometimes have a dozen names for the same 
fern. A good illustration of this point may be 
found in Eaton's "Ferns of North America," 
Part IL, where Polypodium lanosum, Acrostichum 
hispidnm, Adiantum vestitimt, Aspidium lafiosum, 
&c., are mentioned as having been given from time 
to time, by different authors, to our common Chei- 
lanthes vestita. Taking into consideration the 
various ways in which the names and position of 
a species may be changed, and the various places 
in which it may be found in the books which he 
consults, it is no wonder that the young botanist 
is frequently confused and discouraged. 




CHAPTER III. 

DISTRIBUTION AND NOMENCLATURE OF FERNS. 

T page 128 of Dana's ''Manual of Geolo- 
gy " is a very simple diagram, which well 
illustrates the antiquity, development, and 
comparative abundance of ferns in the geologic 
periods of the earth. As that will teach us, ferns 
are first found in the Devonian, or Age of Fishes. 
Their number increases rapidly from that time, 
until, in the Carboniferous Period, they reach 
their highest point in structure, quantity, and size. 
In the epochs which follow they are slowly re- 
duced in number, until the Age of Man, when we 
find them as they are now, with no apparent 
change since prehistoric days. From what this 
record shows us, we are led to look at the condi- 
tions under which ferns attained their greatest 
perfection. According to Dana, these were "a 
moist, warm climate," with '' less sunshine," since 
there " was a very much larger evaporation than 
now;" ''a climate insular throughout," with 

31 




32 



FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



"fewer storms than at present," and "a less rapid 
movement of general circulation," with **an excess 
of carbonic acid in the atmosphere." Now, this is 
just the climate which we seek to create in our 
hot-houses, except that we do not increase the 
usual percentage of carbonic acid. If we look 
over the earth for the nearest approach to the cli- 
mate of the Carboniferous Period which Nature at 
present exhibits, we discover it on some of the 
tropical islands ; and here, as might be expected, 
are the finest ferns, and in the greatest variety. 
Smith gives the following numbers of species 



for different localities : — 

ISLANDS. 

Ceylon 214 species. 

Mauritius 235 " 

Java 460 " 

^ Philippines 297 " 

Fiji 185 « 

British West Indies .... 340 " 

MAIN LAND WITH SIMILAR CLIMATE. 

Brazil . .387 species. 

Parts of India 3i9 " 

Isthmus of Panama . . . . 117 ■" 
Tropical America .... 946 " 

Contrast with these — 
North America, north of Mexico . 150 species. 

All Europe 67 " 

Asia Minor and Syria . . , 25 " 
Arctic Zone 26 " 



DISTRIBUTION OF FERNS. 



33 



The Tree-Ferns are all found in tropical or sub- 
tropical countries. 

It is difficult to ascertain exactly how the ferns 
of the various countries of the globe compare in 
quantity with the other plants of the same dis- 
tricts ; but it is safe to say that the proportion of 
ferns in quantity is larger as the proportion in 
number of species increases. The following gives 
some idea of the ratio of the number of species of 
ferns to that of flowering plants : — 



Jamaica . . . i 


fern 


to 8 


New Guinea . 




4 


Tropical America . 


li 


35 


Portugal 


a 


105 


Greece . 


u 


227 


U. S., east of the Mis- 






sissippi 


(( 


46 



flowering plants. 



The great majority of ferns are perennial. Only 
a few are annual ; Gymnogramme leptophyllay G. 
chcerophylla^ and Ceratopteris thalictroides being 
examples. The latter is also aquatic, — almost 
the only fern that is so, — for it grows in shallow 
water, with the sterile fronds floating on the sur- 
face of the stream. 

Many ferns, instead of growing in the earth 
in the usual way, force their roots deeply into 
the crevices of rocks ; as, Notholcena (PL 2), Pel- 
Icea (PL 4), &c. Still others, as Vittaria and 
Nephrolepis, are epiphytic, growing upon trees. 



34 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



although they receive no nourishment from this 
source. In England, and some parts of this' coun- 
try, the common Polypodiiim has the same habit ; 
but in the Eastern United States the moisture 
of the atmosphere is insufficient to enable it to 
do so. 

Ferns vary in size, from the smallest species 
of Trichoinanes to the huge Tree-Ferns. A 
fruited plant of Ti'ichomaizcs Petei'sii, of Alabama, 
may be covered, roots and all, with a silver dime ; 
while the Tree-Ferns sometimes reach the enor- 
mous height of eighty feet, and bear fronds twen- 
ty-five feet in length. 

As regards the practical uses of ferns, not much 
can be said. Their great value is in the share of 
work they do in Nature's laboratory of air and 
earth. A few are used in a medicinal way. In 
some countries the young fronds are cooked and 
eaten like asparagus, and in Nepaul the natives 
employ the tubers of a Nephrolcpis as an article of 
food. Adiantiim pcdatiiiUy the common Maiden- 
hair, has the honor to serve as a Shaker herb. 
This matter, however, including the superstitious 
uses of ferns by people of civilized as well as bar- 
barous^ lands, we shall pass by with this simple 
mention, as it is with their aesthetic value that we 
have to do. 

The names of ferns (their nomenclature, as it 
is called) sometimes give considerable trouble to 



DISTRIBUTION OF FERNS. 



35 



those selecting species for cultivation. All cata- 
logues and books do not give the same name to 
the same fern. Some authors use Hooker's names, 
some Moore's or Smith's, and so on. This is an 
unfortunate practice, and causes frequent mistakes. 
Then, again, the same name has been unintention- 
ally used by different botanists to describe quite 
different ferns : so it becomes necessary to use the 
name of the person who described each species, to 
distinguish it with certainty from others. Thus 
the Polypodium auricidatum of Linnaeus is our 
Asplenium .ebeneum of Alton, a little fern; while 
the Polypodiiim auriculatum of Wallich is a true 
Polypodmm, with fronds four feet long and a foot 
broad. This illustrates how important it is, in 
speaking of ferns, to mention the name of the 
describer as well as that of the species. 

The generic names of ferns are principally made 
by a combination of two Greek words, often proper 
names, with a Latin termination. Some are de- 
rived from mythological characters, local aborigi- 
nal titles, &c. ; while there are a number of 
unknown origin and unintelligible application. 
Pteris (from pteroit — wing) is found in combi- 
nation with other words in many names of ferns. 
It was originally applied to the Bracken : and, as 
this is one of the most common of ferns, it has 
come to be used to signify ferns in general ; as 
StrutJiiopteris {striithios — ostrich), the Ostrich 



36 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



Fern. The following are generic names of ferns : 
Woodsiay from Joseph Woods, an English botanist 
who died in 1864; and Osmtmda, from Osmunder, 
a Celtic divinity (one of the names of Thor). The 
specific names are commonly adjecti\cs agreeing 
with the generic ones, sometimes derived from the 
name of the discoverer of the fern, as Polypodi- 
U7n Scouleri ; sometimes from the country or 
locality in which the plant grows, as Woodwardia 
Virginica ; or some character of the fern, as Poly- 
poditim aiLTciiin (golden) ; or, again, it may be an 
old substantive name, and need not agree with the 
generic one, as Asplcniinn TricJiomaiies. Almost 
any text-book will enable the reader to fill in this 
outline of nomenclature ; but he must remember 
that all botanists have not been classical scholars, 
and hence there are many irregularities and dis- 
crepancies to be found among the names of ferns. 



CHAPTER IV. 



SOMETHING OF THE LITERATURE OF FERNS. 

P to 1877, no work upon the ferns, either of 
a scientific or popular nature, had been 
published in North America. There were 
only a few magazine articles, short papers in the 
transactions of scientific societies, with here and 
there a page or two in the Government Exploring 
Expedition Reports ; while our botanies contained 
only the ferns growing east of the Mississippi. 
In the various European books on ferns, there are 
many illustrations of North- American species; 
but it is necessary to consult a large number of 
volumes in order to find them all. The greatest 
number of American species will be found in the 
works of Sir W. J. and Sir Joseph D. Hooker. 
Lowe's books on ferns contain many, but the illus- 
trations are not of the highest order. The want 
of an American treatise on this subject is now 
being supplied in the most satisfactory manner 
by tlie publication by Mr. Cassino of a finely-illus- 

37 




38 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



trated work in large quarto form, where every 
species and the principal varieties of North-Amer- 
ican ferns are to be represented by colored plates 
drawn from the plants themselves by Mr. Emerton. 
The text, as prepared by Professor Eaton, who 
stands in this country at the head of pteridologists, 
at once raises this work above the level of a mere 
picture-book ; where, in less careful hands, publi- 
cations of this class are apt to remain. The fact 
that but about 150 species are to be represented 
renders it possible to make an end as well as a 
beginning to the book : so that with twenty-five 
parts, containing three plates each, it is possible 
to give it complete to the public ; while, with a 
general work on plants, these limits must be indefi- 
nitely exceeded. The five parts, with illustrations 
of thirty species, already issued, have surpassed 
the expectations of all ; and, by Professor Eaton's 
valuable descriptions, the work is placed in the 
first rank. 

Besides this, a more modest book, in octavo, on 
the ferns of Kentucky, is nearly ready for publi- 
cation. It is to be illustrated by etchings of each 
species, made by the author, Mr. Williamson. It 
will be an excellent work, and deserves a wide 
circulation. T\i^o check-lists of North-American 
ferns have appeared at different times : one by 
Mr. William Edwards, on a single sheet, intended 
only as an exchange list; the other, of 12 pages 



THE LITER A TURE OF FERNS. 



39 



8vo, printed on one side only, and intended for 
labelling specimens, as well as a list for purposes 
of exchange. The latter was prepared under the 
advice of Professor Eaton. 

The following works are interesting as contain- 
ing references to American species : — 

IcoNES FiLicuM : by Sir W. J. Hooker. Lon- 
don, 1 83 1. Folio. Contains descriptions and 
plates of 12 species of ferns, one Ophioglossum, 
and one Lycopodium of North America. This 
work costs from $25 to ^75, according to the 
colored or uncolored condition of the plates. 

FiLicES ExoTic.E : by Sir W. J. Hooker. Lon- 
don, 1859. Large 4to. * Descriptions and plates 
of 7 North-American ferns, and one Lycopodium. 
Costs about ^20. 

Garden Ferns : by Sir W. J. Hooker. Lon- 
don, 1862. 8vo. Contains 4 North-American 
ferns. Costs about ^8. 

Century of Ferns : by Sir W. J. Hooker. 
Lor. don, 1854. Large 8vo. Contains 3 species of 
North-American ferns. Costs about ;^io. 

Second Century of Ferns : by Sir W. J. 
Hooker. London, 1861. Large 8vo. Contains 2 
North-American ferns. Costs about ^10. 

Species Filicum : by Sir W. J. Hooker. Lon- 
don, 1846-64. 5 vols. 8vo. Vol. ii. contains 17 
and vol. iii. contains 2 plates of American ferns, 
and descriptions of a greater number than this 
of species. Costs from ;^40 to $60. 



40 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



Synopsis Filicum : by Sir W. J. Hooker and 
J. G. Baker. 2d ed. London, 1874. 8vo. Con- 
tains a short description of all known ferns, in- 
cluding, of course, the American species. There is 
also a figure illustrating the characteristics of each 
genus. It costs ^9. 

Genera Filicum : by Sir W. J. Hooker. Plates 
by Francis Bauer. Large 8vo. London, 1S42. 
Contains magnificent plates illustrating the char- 
acters of 135 genera of different authors, includ- 
ing all the American genera. This work can be 
purchased for about ^25. 

Hooker's Exotic Flora and his Icones Plan- 
TARUM also contain many plates of ferns. 

Ferns of Southern India, and Ferns of Brit- 
ish India, by R. H. Beddome (Madras, India, 
1868-73, 4to), contains altogether 616 full-page 
admirable plates in outline of Indian ferns, with 
description of each species. A rare and valuable 
work, probably costing at least $50. 

Ferns, British and Foreign : by E. J. Lowe. 
London, 1868. 9 vols. 8vo. 550 plates. The 
ninth volume is called New and Rare Ferns. 
This is a singular work. The plates vary much 
in quality : some are very poor. A great many 
American ferns are represented here in better or 
worse shape ; but the descriptions are worthless, 
and the synonymy is often incorrect. 

As there are in Great Britain about 16 species 




Plate V. Fern Structure. 



THE LITERATURE OF FERNS. 41 



of ferns in common with North America, we can 
consult some of the local works on British ferns 
with profit. The best of these is Hooker's Brit- 
ish Ferns; another excellent one is The Ferns 
OF Great Britain, and their Allies, by Sow- 
erby and Johnson. The latter is almost the only 
work which gives plates of the Characece. They 
are both rather costly books. 

Moore's Nature-Printed British Ferns is 
published in two forms, folio and 8vo. The 8vo 
edition forms two volumes of a series which in- 
cludes AlgcB, &c. The folio edition costs about 

Among the cheapest of all books on ferns is A 
Fern-Book for Everybody, by M. C. Cooke ; a 
small i2mo, with colored plates and 124 pages of 
text. Very like this book also is British Ferns, 
by Thomas Moore. These books sell in England 
for a shilling : by the time they reach us, their price 
is seventy-five cents ; but that is cheap enough for 
the amount of valuable information contained with- 
in their paper covers. Besides the books here men- 
tioned, the English press has issued many volumes 
on ferns, high and low priced, of which some of 
the earlier ones are especially good even now, while 
many of the later are crude and hastily written, 
having apparently been produced at the sudden 
demand of a fancy or a market. 

The works so far considered relate to the system- 



42 FERXS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



atic arrangement of the ferns, and description of 
their species, and are valuable for our purpose so 
far as they deal with American ones. For the 
structure or morphology of ferns we can confine 
ourselves to works written or translated into lan- 
guages wdiich all can read. Our school and college 
botanies contain but a small amount of information 
about ferns. To learn their structure and devel- 
opment we must refer to more elaborate treatises, 
especially to the writings of foreign authors ; and 
we shall do well to study the development of other 
plants also, that we may have correct ideas of the 
analogies of ferns with the rest of the vegetable 
world. 

Among these books of wider range is the ad- 
mirable Text-Book of Structural and Physio- 
logical Botany, by Otto W. Thome, translated 
by A. W. Bennett ; illustrated by 600 cuts, and map. 
The American edition is published by John Wiley 
and Sons, New York, 1877. The ideas in the book 
are modern, and more space in proportion to its 
size is given to the Cryptogams than in almost any 
treatise on the subject. This book costs ^2.50, 
and is intended as a text-book for schools. 

A General System of Botany, by Le Maout 
and Decaisne, translated by ]\Irs. Hooker, London, 
1873, 1066 pp. 4to, may also be mentioned here. 
This valuable reference-book devotes nearly 100 
pages to the Cryptogams, and the subject is illus- 



THE LITERATURE OF FERNS. 



43 



trated by many very excellent figures. Owing to 
its size, the work is rather expensive; costing from 
^15 to ^30, according to paper and binding. 

Ferns, British and Foreign, by John Smith 
(London, 1866, 8vo,' pp. 412), under the head Cul- 
tivation," contains much valuable information on 
fern-structure. There is also much of interest 
regarding the introduction of foreign species into 
England. 

HiSTORiA FiLicuM (London, Macmillan & Co., 
1875, 8vo, 429 pp.), by the same author, an ex- 
curator of Kew Gardens, contains a great deal of 
original matter relating to the modes of fern- 
growth. The introductory and closing chapters 
are of especial interest, and several quotations 
from them will be found in the present volume 
The bulk of the book is an exposition of the 
author's plan of classifying ferns, and a review of 
the plans adopted by others. It is copiously illus- 
trated ; and the price in this country is high, being 

But undoubtedly the best book given to botanists 
for many years is the Text-Book of Botany, 
Morphological and Physiological, by Julius 
Sachs, translated by A. W. Bennett and W. T. 
Thistleton Dyer; London, Macmillan & Co.; 858 
pp. large 8vo. In this work, under the head 
"Book II., Special Morphology, and Outlines of 
Classification," there are 380 pages, of which 30 



44 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



are devoted to the ferns out of the 214 devoted to 
Cryptogams, Besides this there are many other 
references to ferns in the chapters on General 
Morphology and Physiology. In the preface it is 
stated, "This text-book is intended to introduce 
the student to the present state of our knowledge 
of botanical science." And again : " In the refer- 
ences which will be found in this work, the chief 
object has been to introduce the student to those 
writings in which he will find a full discussion of 
the subjects which have only been touched on 
briefly. . . . The reader of this work will at least 
learn the names and standing of those workers who 
have in recent times contributed most essentially to 
the science of which it treats." In the translator's 
preface is this : " The translator believes that he is 
supplying a want that has long been felt by English 
botanical students. Our own literature has not at 
present produced any work at once so comprehen- 
sive in its scope, and so minute and so accurate in 
its details, — qualities which have recommended 
the German work to every one familiar with that 
language." This book is illustrated by 461 figures, 
chiefly the result of difficult microscopic analysis. 
It may be found in many libraries, and to the 
student is simply invaluable. The price in this 
country is $9. 

On the Development and Fructification 
OF THE Higher Cryptogamia, and on the Fruc- 



THE LITER A TURE OF FERNS. 



45 



TiFicATiON OF THE C0NIFER.E, by Dr. William Hoff- 
meister ; translated by Frederic Currey ; published 
by the Ray Society, London, 1862; pp. 506; 65 
plates. The original price was ^s. 6d.y and it 
is now difficult to obtain a copy. The plates are 
all made from microscopic studies, and are finely 
executed. It is valuable for careful study and 
comparison ; but it is found in few libraries. 

Among other authors worth consulting, but 
whose works have not yet been translated into 
English, are Mettenius, Milde, Fee, and Presl. 

Besides the books above mentioned, there are 
many devoted either to the general cultivation of 
ferns, or to the Sesthetic side of fern hunting and 
cultivation. A few of them allude to the structure 
and mode of growth of ferns, and, without affecting 
to go very deeply into the subject, give a correct 
idea of it as far as they discuss it. Others, not 
aiming at any scientific character, are charming 
examples of literary finish. But it is to be regret- 
ted that many books of this class, and some of 
even as late a date as 1867, convey the most 
erroneous ideas both in regard to the analogies 
between ferns and other plants, and the methods 
of reproduction in ferns. Some even leave the 
reader with the impression that there is no sexual 
system at all in these plants, or any thing to 
establish in this a parallel between them and the 
Phanerogams, 



46 ferjvs IiV their homes axd ours. 



No book on fern-cultivation contains in a small 
space more useful information, divested of all su- 
perfluous rhetoric, than The Fern Garden, by 
Shirley Hibberd ; London, Groombridge & Sons, 
1870; 8v^o, pp. 148; with numerous illustrations. 
The suggestions of this work are of the greatest 
service to the amateur of limited means ; and are, 
as the writer has proved by personal experience 
during the last five years, eminently practical. 
This book costs $1.75. 

In Smith's Ferns, British and Foreign, pre- 
viously alluded to, there is much of value con- 
cerning the cultivation of ferns, especially in the 
greenhouse. 

Select Ferns, British and Exotic, by B. 
S. Williams (London, published and sold by the 
author; pp. 330 8vo, illustrated), is a valuable 
work for those who are intending to cultivate 
ferns in a greenhouse or stove, particularly if it 
is their intention to deal extensively with rare and 
costly species. Mr. Williams's experience in this 
branch of fern-culture enables him to speak with 
assurance upon the subject. This book has always 
beeivkept on sale by Mr. George Such, the exten- 
sive cultivator of orchids and rare plants at South 
Amboy, N.J., and costs ^2.50. 

It would be unjust to close this chapter without 
reference to the many excellent articles upon 
ferns and their culture which are scattered over 



THE LITERATURE OF FERNS. 47 



the pages of the best English and American 
magazines. But the absence of subject-catalogues 
renders this literature practically useless. Chance 
may direct us to what we are looking for ; but, 
until our principal libraries shall put into practice 
some index-system which shall give to us control 
of these writings, many of them will be lost, and 
they are liable to be unintentionally reproduced 
by other authors in after-years. 



CHAPTER V. 



HOW TO COLLECT FERNS FOR CULTIVATION. 




HE desire to collect ferns for growing at 
home is a very natural accompaniment of 
a winter health-trip to Bermuda or Florida, 
or our summxcr vacation at the White Mountains 
or Ausable Chasm. It becomes a fever in such 
places as the Yosemite or in Brazil. It is only 
necessary to see the graceful plants, with their 
delicate fronds or feathery crowns, to begin dream- 
ing how they would adorn the windows of our 
sitting-room, or some neglected corner of our 
garden. But, when we meet them thus in their 
full beauty, they are in the most unfavorable state 
for transplanting, as, in the vigor of its growing 
condition in its natural home, a fern will endure 
little rough handling, and requires the most tender 
care to persuade it tb become domesticated in any 
other place. It would, indeed, be better for us to 
wait till the period of the season's activity had 
passed, which it is probable that we cannot do ; 
48 



8 
< 

w 

Pu 
o 
o 
o 

CO 

w 

<5 



TO COLLECT FERNS FOR CULTIVATLON. 49 



or collect our ferns in the early spring before the 
croziers unroll ; but, when the plants are in this 
condition, only an experienced botanizer knows 
what to look for, and where to find it. Even the 
most practised of fern-hunters may only chance 
upon the opportunity of securing some rare species 
when it is the worst possible time for removing 
it. Then, too, it is best to indulge the inspiration 
of the moment ; for the enthusiasm may not return 
until too late for another year also. 

Suppose, then, that in July or August, at one of 
our Northern watering-places, we wish to obtain 
a small collection of our native ferns in their liv- 
ing state. The best way of transporting them 
is, of course, with their fronds uncrushed, in a box 
or basket of sufficient size. But this is not always 
practicable. It may be necessary to condense 
them, in packing, into the smallest possible space. 
As we collect them, the ferns can be kept in a 
bowl or basket till we are preparing for our jour- 
ney home. When we gather them, the roots 
should be carefully dug up, not wrenched from 
their surroundings ; and, when we begin to get 
them re idy for their travels, should not be very 
wet. Suffer the plants to remain without water 
a day or two before packing : only do not allow 
them to become exactly dry. Then we may shake 
off as much of the earth as will readily fall away, 
and, wrapping each fern with a bit of damp (not 



50 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



wet) moss, roll it up in a bit of paper large enough 
to hold all together, tying the parcel with a thread. 
The fronds should all project beyond the moss 
and paper, and only enough of them be left to 
insure a healthy start for the next season. The 
proper number of fronds to leave will be three or 
four on an ordinary, and six on a very large plant. 
In order to remember how the ferns looked (for we 
are not yet supposed to be acquainted with their 
names), it will be a good plan to press a frond of 
each, and number it, tying a tag with the corre- 
sponding number to the collected specimen itself. 
When this is done, all the packages should be 
arranged with the fronds lying in the same direc- 
tion ; and a number of fresh fronds should be col- 
lected, and placed around the fronds of the ferns 
to be carried home. Then the whole may be 
rolled up firmly into a bundle, which should be 
covered by several thicknesses of stout manila- 
paper, and tied securely. The package is now 
ready to place in a trunk among its other con- 
tents, to deliver to the expressman, or to be car- 
ried under the arm. Unless it is left exposed to 
the hot sun, or in a very dry place, the fehis in 
this bundle will not suffer in vitality or health for 
a fortnight or three weeks. 

When at the end of their journey, the ferns 
must be carefully unwrapped, and firmly planted 
in the spot chosen for their future home. A 



TO COLLECT FERNS FOR CULTIVATION. 51 



good light soil, whether out of doors or in the 
fernery, is best. At first, nearly all the fronds will 
lie quite prostrate on the ground ; but if they are 
frequently sprinkled on both sides, and their roots 
kept only damp, the plants will establish them- 
selves, and reward the pains bestowed upon them 
by a fine healthy growth the very next season. 
In the time intervening, the pressed fronds can 
be examined and named ; and if the numbers tied 
to each package are marked on little sticks, and 
placed with the roots, we shall know what our 
plants are, and what to expect of each root before 
it grows at all. 

Our first surprise the next spring will be, when 
on some walk we discover large quantities of 
some fern, which we had spared no pains the sum- 
mer before to bring from two hundred or five hun- 
dred miles away, growing within a mile of our 
own door. This occurs to every one who begins 
fern-collecting away from home ; but the trans- 
planted specimens, though they lose thus their 
rarity, remain as perpetual remembrancers of our 
first delight and interest in them. A lady living 
not a thousand miles from Boston brought from 
Vermont a few starved plants of Maidenhair {Adi- 
antuni pedatti7n), and showed them to the writer 
with the greatest satisfaction ; but what was her 
surprise when she learned that within a few rods 
of her old family home, where she was wont to 



52 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



spend half her summers, the same Maidenhair 
grew in luxuriance and perfection, hardly sur- 
passed by examples from any other known local- 
ity ! 

The collecting of ferns at a distance from home 
must, of course, be confined to the smaller species 
or small plants of the larger ones. But, if we are 
in haste to stock an out-of-doors fernery, it is im- 
portant to obtain larger ferns at once. For this 
purpose, a covered wagon, a number of shallow 
boxes, a strong spade, and a hatchet, will be re- 
quired. Suppose that we have made the acquaint- 
ance of all the North-American ferns, and that we 
have noted some region where fifteen or twenty 
species may be collected in a trip of reasonable 
extent. We make our excursion just as the fern- 
fronds are coming up from the ground. The As- 
pidiums will all be found easy to lift, and all we 
desire of them can be quickly gathered. But with 
the OsmiLudas the case is different. Our hatchet, 
or even an axe, will be of great assistance if we 
wish to collect large plants of this species ; for the 
woody base front which the plants spring is almost 
as tough as oak. While we may dig up the roots 
on the outside of a tuft of Osmimdas, it will be 
necessary to cut the growing portion away from 
the older part. An old mortising-chisel may be of 
service to us in removing the plants of Asplenhim 
TrichomaneSy A. ebenezLnij Cystopteris fragilis^ and 



TO COLLECT FERNS FOR CULTIVATION. 53 



Other species which cUng to the rocks, and send 
their roots deep into the crevices. Great care 
must be taken not to break the young fronds, which 
are very tender : so here our boxes come into play, 
as these may be filled, and safely piled one on 
another. Many of the ferns for which we are 
searching are " evergreen " species ; i.e., the fronds 
of one season do not wither till the new ones 
are well developed. Of course, all these are 
easily identified. There are in New England a 
good many of this habit, including the larger As- 
pidiiLins, Asplcnmm ebeimnn, and Tj'icJionianes, &c. 
After filling our wagon, we return without delay 
to plant our ferns. This would be best done at 
evening ; but we have selected a dull clay without 
sunshine for our trip, and may, with care, proceed 
at once to the work. The spot on which we have 
decided to establish our fernery should have been 
previously prepared, and the plants judiciously dis- 
tributed in their proper places. The hints for this 
are elsewhere given. 

The collector will soon learn to vary his methods 
of gathering and preserving ferns to suit the cir- 
cumstances and the time. The tin botanical case is 
always useful ; and, for a short trip with uncertain 
prospects, a large newspaper will answer all require- 
ments. Later in the season the ferns may be 
treated with less delicacy, and may even be thrown 
promiscuously into a- bag or sack. 



CHAPTER VI. 



FERNERIES OUT OF DOORS. 



T is surprising to how limited an extent 
our native ferns have been cultivated, 
even by those who possess the greatest 
advantages for so doing. Time and money enough 
have continually been spent on horticultural fan- 
cies or fashions. Right-and-left or symmetrical 
effects have been attempted with evergreens and 
other shrubs trimmed into spires and domes, where 
every twig which dared attempt to be graceful was 
lopped off, and thrown on the brush-heap. Per- 
sistent efforts have been made year after year to 
grow sun-loving plants in the shade, that they 
might form a screen for some ugly fence or build- 
ing. Such attempts are failures, as they deserve 
to be, and as, indeed, all the fantastic tricks of 
gardening are, when Nature has her way. It may 
be in place to give the details of an experiment 
of a different kind, successfully tried by the writer 
of this little book. 

54 



FERNERIES OUT OF DOORS. 



55 



An old division-fence, where, on the other side, 
the land was two feet higher than our own, had 
long given much trouble by settling out of line. 
To remedy this, a rough wall of stone, an abun- 
dant material on the spot, was made about two 
feet in front of the fence, and the space between 
filled with good loam and leaf -mould well mixed. 
As the rocks were loosely piled together, the earth 
found its way among them, filling the wide crev- 
ices like so many diminutive pockets. After the 
fence was re-set, a row of tall ferns, as Strttthiop- 
teris, Osimmda, Asplenium jilix-foeminay &c., were 
planted on the terrace just made, and smaller 
species were established on its edge at the feet 
of the larger ones. The pockets were filled with 
strong plants of Asplenium Trichomanes , A. ebe- 
neuin, Polypoditim Phegopteris, Polypodium Dryop- 
teris, and P. vulgare. At the base of the wall 
more of the larger-growing species were planted, 
including Aspidium acrostickoides, Dicksojtia, and 
Adiantum, At either end of the wall, which was 
thirty feet in length, the rocks were piled up, and 
brought farther out into the garden and higher 
than the others ; care being taken to have plenty 
of earth in the crevices, and also to slope the struc- 
ture so as to preclude the possibility of the whole 
falling down after the first season. At one end, 
on the mound of rocks, grows a small tree of the 
Pseudacacia viscosa^ which shades the only sunny 



56 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



spot ; and at the other is an old peach-tree. Asso- 
ciated with the ferns are Clintonia, several species 
of violets, Hepatica trilobay and* a splendid clump 
of Cypripedmm spectabile. Opposite the terrace, 
across a gravelled walk, are more ferns, and a 
number of native plants. Very little care is re- 
quired to insure a thrifty growth. In fact, the 
only necessary thing is to sprinkle the whole once 
a day, in dry weather, from the hose attached to a 
private hydrant near by. Were not the water- 
supply so conveniently placed, any of the hand- 
sprinklers would answer, — even a watering-pot; 
the only disadvantage of the latter being the labor 
required to lift and use it. 

There is, of course, no limit to the expensive 
and beautiful effects which the wealthy cultivator 
may command. But this little book is not pub- 
lished to furnish a guide to such extensive works 
in horticulture as are indulged in across the water : 
it would rather suggest the simpler and less costly 
methods of cultivating ferns. Another thing 
must be constantly borne in mind : our climate 
in North America, especially in New England, 
the Middle States, and westward, prevents our 
applying to the out-door culture of ferns the 
suggestions of many valuable English treatises, 
which are of servdce only in the mild insular 
climate of that favored country. Even the hardi- 
est ferns require here more shade in summer, and 




Plate VII. Dicksonia Antarctica, Labill. 
(From plant six feet high.) 



FERNERIES OUT OF DOORS. 



57 



more protection in winter. Shirley Hibberd, in 
that dehghtful book The Fern Garden," describes 
his own out-door fernery. It is a beautiful '' ruin," 
built of burrs from the brick-yard : its walls are 
all double, so that the earth may reach down to 
the ground-line from all the summits and pockets 
of the structure. Specimens of Ptcris aqtcilina, 
which with us rarely exceed four fe-et in height, 
grow about this fernery to ten feet above the soil ; 
and in his *'cold" house, "with the occasional help 
of an oil-stove, every thing is kept safely through 
the cold snaps till the weather changes." In this 
house, without heating - apparatus, he succeeds 
finely with such ferns as Woodwardia radicans^ 
Aspidiuni falcatuni, Ptcris Crctica (variety albo- 
lincatd), Davallia Canariensis, Adiantiim fojino- 
s?n7i, Platyceriiim alcicojiie, and many others which 
with us could only be considered inhabitants of 
the temperate house, which must be heated artifi- 
cially at least for six months in the year, or the 
in-doors fernery. 

There have been so few attempts with us to 
cultivate foreign or distant American ferns, that 
it is difficult to extend the list of ferns for the out- 
door collection beyond the common species which 
are enumerated at the close of this chapter. With 
as many charming native and foreign plants as we 
shall find available, it would be absurd to confine 
this collection to ferns. One of the most graceful 



58 FERA'S IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



plants obtainable in moist woodlands is the Equi- 
setiim sylvaticum ; but, although this has been long 
cultivated in Europe, it is seldom met with here in 
a collection of native plants. Sanginnaria Cana- 
dense (bloodroot), Hepatica, nearly all the violets, 
Sedum acre, Ariscema tripJiylhmi (wild turnip), 
Podophylhtm peltatum (mandrake), several of the 
Trillinms, the Pogonatiims and Smilacinas, the 
Anemones, Clintonia borealis, and many other 
charming native plants, grow well among the 
ferns, some of them blooming before the fern- 
fronds are large enough to overshadow them. We 
may even have the pleasure of blossoming the 
exquisite little Claytonia (spring beauty) in the 
out-door fernery. On the upper rocks the saxi- 
frage will flourish ; and, among the foreign plants 
which may be introduced among the ferns, Lysi- 
machia nummularia (money-wort) and Vinca (peri- 
winkle) are valuable. In bringing the plants from 
the woods to the garden, it will be well to remove 
plenty of earth with them : and this will be the 
source of many pleasant little surprises ; for during 
the second season many small plants, which were 
unnoticed or mere seedlings at the time of trans- 
planting, will make their appearance in this soil. 
In this way the writer has found introduced into 
his fernery Potentilla, blackberry-vines, Anemone 
nemorosa, Smilacina bifolia, and other excellent 
additions to the collection. Of course, by the 



FERNERIES OUT OF DOORS. 



59 



same process are continually being brought in 
new forms of Erechthites (fire-weed) and the 
ubiquitous Nabahts, and the asters and golden- 
rods will overtop the minor plants ; but these can 
be weeded out or pruned, so that to bring a large 
mass of earth with every fern-root will be, on the 
whole, beneficial. Many of the mosses, particularly 
the Hypnuins, will grow in the crevices and among 
the rocks, although it will be difficult to preserve 
them during a dry summer. Among the prettiest 
(and the commonest too) are Hyp7itL7n sj)lende7ts, 
H. mollusmmy H. tamariscinum, H. mpressiforme, 
Bartramia pomiformis, Polytrichum commune, sev- 
eral species of Bryum and DicraniLm, and the 
annual Funaria hygromctrica. Among the Hepat- 
iccE, the Marchantia polymorpha, with its little 
umbrella-like fruiting, is very attractive, and can 
be easily grown in a damp place. 

Among the shrubs which will endure partial 
shade, and serve themselves to produce still more 
for the ferns, some may be chosen to add to the 
collection. The Magnolia glatLca and Kalmia 
latifolia, although difficult to establish, when once 
well rooted, will repay many former failures. The 
flowering dogwood (Comiis Florida) and the spice- 
bark {Laurus Benzoiii) are very charming plants, 
and sometimes grow into trees of moderate size. 
The woodbine {Ampelopsis quinqiiefolid) and the 
wild clematis {Clematis Virginiana) are invaluable 



6o ~" FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



for draping and concealing the fences and out- 
buildings of the town garden, and in the country 
are no less an addition to the fernery, where 
they will climb gracefully over some old stump 
introduced for the purpose, or along the rude 
stones of the rock-work which supports the ferns. 

The natural soil of the place where a fernery is 
to be established may be unsuitable for these 
plants, and it may be necessary to prepare a better 
one. In this case we should employ a teamster to 
obtain a few loads of light meadow-peat, or leaf- 
mould from the woods. This, if well mixed with 
the upper soil of the garden, by turning them over 
together a few times with the spade, will serve for 
almost any one of the plants already named, as 
they scarcely ever require more than a foot of 
reasonably good soil in which to grow. For the 
trees, of course, a greater depth of suitable earth 
is necessary. 

As a general thing, the falling leaves and pros- 
trate fronds of the ferns will give all the protection 
required for the out-door fernery during the winter. 
If its situation be much exposed, or if among the 
plants are some exceptionally tender ones, it will 
be well to give additional covering, which should 
be lightly placed over the plants. If too much be 
laid upon them, or if the covering become matted 
together and soaked with rain and snow water, there 
is danger of decay and death among the ferns. 



FERNERIES OUT OF DOORS. 



6l 



The writer has endeavored to ascertain, by cor- 
respondence with persons interested in this branch 
of the subject, to what extent ferns are cultivated 
in various parts of the country. The results of 
this are hardly as satisfactory as could be wished. 
It appears to be the fact, that there are as yet com- 
paratively few who have cultivated ferns for a suf- 
ficient length of time to enable them to give any 
definite information. The principal out-door col- 
lections are at the North, chiefly in New England, 
where the limit of the number of species which 
may be cultivated can be pretty definitely deter- 
mined. 

The following lists are arranged to aid beginners 
who may desire to cultivate our native species of 
ferns : — 



List of North- American Ferns which are perfectly 
hardy in the United States and Canada. 

Polypodium vulgare, Linn. Aspidium spinulosum, 

Pteris aquilina, Linn. Swartz. 

Adiantum pedatum, Linn. Aspidium spinulosum, var. in- 
Woodwardia Virginica, Smith, termedium, Willd. 

Woodwardia angustifolia, Aspidium spinulosum, var. di- 

Smith. latatum, Gray. 

Asplenium Trichomanes, Aspidium spinulosum, var. 

Linn. Boottii, Gray. 

Asplenium ebeneum, Aiton. Aspidium cristatum, Swartz. 

Asplenium angustifolium, Aspidium cristatum, var. Clin- 

MiCHX. tonianum, D. C. Eaton. 



62 FERiVS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



Asplenium thelypteroides, Aspidium Filix-mas, Swartz. 

]\IiCHX. Aspidium Goldianum, Hook. 

Asplenium Filix-foemina, Aspidium marginale, Swartz. 

Bernh. S truth iopteris Germanica, 

Phegopteris polypodioides, Willd. 

Fee. Onoclea sensibilis, Linn. 

Phegopteris hexagonoiDtera, Cystopteris fragihs, Bernh. 

Fee. Cystopteris bulbifera, Bernh. 
Phegopteris Dryopteris, Fee. Woodsia Ilvensis, R. Br. 

Aspidium acrostichoides, Woodsia obtusa, Torrey. 

Swartz. Dicksonia punctilobula, 

Aspidium aculeatum, var. Kunze. 

Braunii, Doll, Koch. Osmunda regalis, Linn. 

Aspidium Thelypteris, Osmunda Claytoniana, Linn. 

Swartz. Osmunda cinnamomea, Linn. 
Aspidium Noveboracense, 

Swartz. 

List of North-American Ferns requiring more care 

and protection, yet hardy at the North. 



Lomaria Spicant, Desv. 
Scolopendrium vulgare, 

Smith. 
Camptosorus rhizophyllus, 

Link. 

Asplenium pinnatifidum, 

NUTT. 



Aspidium Lonchitis, SwARTZ. 
Lygodium palmatum, 

Swartz. 
Asplenium Ruta-muraria, 

Linn. 



North-American Alpine and Sub-Alpine ferns — 
as Aspidium fragrans, Swartz, Asplenium viride, 
Hudson, Woodsia hyperborea, R. Br., Woodsia 
glabella, R. Br., &c. — are very difficult of cultiva- 
tion, and can only be made to survive in pits, or 
any other place, for a brief period. 



FERNERIES OUT OF DOORS. 



63 



List of North-American Ferns which are particularly 
suitable for the greenhouse^ but which may be cul- 
tivated out doors at the South; some possibly in 
California. 

Acrostichum (Chrysodium) Aneimia adiantifolia, Swartz. 

aureum, Linn. Adiantum Capillus -Veneris, 

Polypodium Plumula, H. B. K. Linn. 
Polypodium incanum, Vittaria lineata, Swartz. 

Swartz. Blechnum serrulatum, Michx. 

Polypodium Californicum, Woodwardia radicans, var. 

Kaulf. Americanum, Hook. 

Polypodium Phyllitidis, Linn. Nephrolepis exaltata, Schott. 
Polypodium aureum, Linn. Aspidium cristatum, var. 
Gymnogramme triangularis, Floridanum, D. C. Eaton. 

Kaulf. Aspidium argutum, Kaulf. 

Pteris longifolia, Linn. Aspidium unitum, var. gla- 

Pteris Cretica, Linn. brum, Mett. 

Aneimia Mexicana, Aspidium patens, Swartz. 

Klotzsch. 

Besides the above, there are many ferns, species 
of Notholcena, Pellceay Gymnogramme^ and CJieilan- 
thes, which require special cultivation, and are 
referred to under that head ; but, as they are all 
natives of this country, there must be places in it 
where their successful out-door culture is possible. 
There are still so few experimenters, that we must 
wait until some one in an apparently suitable loca- 
tion has courage and patience to make the trial. 

There are still other American ferns which are 
or might be cultivated ; as Trichomanes Petersii, 



64 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



Gray, TricJwnianes radicans, Swartz, Asplenmm 
myriophyllicin, Presl, Asplenium dejitatum. Linn., 
&c. The first two of this list can be managed with • 
comparative ease under a bell-glass in any hot- 
house or fernery. 



CHAPTER VII. 



HINTS ABOUT SOILS AND POTS FOR FERNS. 



HE composition of the soil in which ferns 
are to be grown must be left, in matters 
of detail, to the cultivators themselves. 
No absolute rule can be laid down, as the modes 
of fern-growth are so various ; and, besides, the 
materials most readily obtained by one person 
may not be available to another. The essential 
thing is to produce a soil which shall be light, and 
at the same time capable of being made quite firm. 
Ferns cannot endure a sour soil, or one that will 
allow the water given the plant to become stag- 
nant. In all cases, a perfect drainage must be 
secured. Very strong-growing ferns, which root 
deeply, may be planted, when in pots, with a few 
pieces of broken crocks at the bottom of the pot, 
so long as the soil above remains porous ; but 
species of less vigor will require more drainage- 
material. It is just as important not to overdo 
drainage as not to neglect it ; for, if too much of 



66 



FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



the broken material is placed in the pot or fernery, 
many of the roots of the larger plants will find 
their way into it, and suffer from want of the nour- 
ishment which the earth only can supply. More- 
over, if under these circumstances the plant be- 
come at all dry, these projecting roots will be the 
first to perish, much to the detriment of the ferns. 

Hardly any two gardeners agree exactly on the 
best proportions of materials to be used in making 
up a soil for ferns. Taking an average of their 
general recommendations, we may safely employ 
the following for most ferns in pots, ferneries, bas- 
kets, &c. : one part peat well broken up, one part 
leaf-mould from the woods, one part mason's sand, 
one part virgin loam. The bits of peat will serve 
for the roots to cling to, while the sand and loam 
enable us to press the whole quite firmly into 
place. Instead of the leaf-mould, cocoanut-refuse 
may be used. This is sold by many of the large 
horticultural dealers. Messrs. B. K. Bliss and 
Sons, 34 Barclay Street, New -York City, write 
that they can supply this material at fifty cents a 
peck, or one dollar and fifty cents a bushel. For 
use by amateurs it is particularly valuable, as it 
is clean ; and it may be employed with common 
loam, or even quite poor soil, in equal parts, for 
almost any plants. Meadow-muck, when dried 
and broken up, can be substituted with advantage 
for the peat ; but, in this case, it will do to take 



SOILS AND POTS FOR FERNS. 



67 



two parts of the cocoanut or leaf-mould to one of 
each of the other ingredients. It is always desira- 
ble to have on hand a supply of old SpJiagnitm 
(bog-moss) for use at the time of making up fern- 
eries or potting ferns. A thin layer of this should 
be placed over the drainage-material, to prevent 
the soil from being washed down at the first water- 
ing, so as to choke the drainage. The coarser 
parts of the cocoanut-fibre are also good for this 
purpose. 

A certain class of ferns, coming almost under 
the head of Epiphytes, require a rather different 
soil. Instances are, Platyceriitin alcico7iie, P. 
grande, several Davallias, Oleandra nodosa, and 
many Polypodiums. For these more peat is neces- 
sary ; and, for some species, it is only required 
to fill a wire basket with broken peat, fasten- 
ing the ferns to the outside. For ordinary pot- 
culture of this class of ferns, two parts of peat, 
one of sand, and one of loam, will be a good 
mixture. Silver sand, mentioned in almost every 
work on fern-culture, does very well for delicate 
plants and for spore-raising ; but for ferneries and 
pot-cultivation, and particularly for out-door work, 
the coarser mason's sand is much to be preferred. 

The soil for ferneries of all kinds ought to be 
well baked, or to have boiling water poured through 
it, before the ferns are planted. Shirley Hibberd, 
in " The Fern Garden," gives the following good 



68 



FERNS m THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



advice : " Take a can of boiling water, and water 
the soil till you have supplied enough to rise to the 
top of the drainage. The water should be poured 
into the centre first, to warm the soil gradually. 
The use of the boiling water is to destroy every 
insect that may have escaped your eye when break- 
ing up the peat. It will not only do that, but kill 
their eggs also, and equally make an end of the 
seeds of weeds and the mycelmm of fungi; all of 
which are enemies better got rid of at first, than to 
be hunted for when their ravages become a source 
of alarm. The over-cautious may, of course, scald 
or bake the materials before filling the pan : in 
that case they should not be put in the pan until 
nearly dry again. 

"When the pan is nearly cold, the ferns may be 
planted ; and the process of planting will consoli- 
date the compost, so that it will, when all is fin- 
ished, be an inch below the edge of the pan, as 
it ought to be : it may, indeed, go below that, and 
need filling up with some of the finest of the mix- 
ture, which should be sprinkled over as a finishing 
touch." 

When ferns are cultivated naturally in a large 
house, the trouble of potting is entirely dispensed 
with, and consequently the plants require but a 
moderate degree of care ; but in a small house, 
and where they are grown to produce exhibition 
specimens, much attention must be given to the 



SOILS AND POTS FOR FERNS. 



69 



suitable character of the pots and pans in which 
they are raised. The ordinary earthen pots vary 
much in quality. Those made from poor clay, and 
insufficiently baked, are apt to become rotten, and 
break just at the time when it is most necessary 
that they should hold together. Pots which are 
over-baked are less porous, and, like common 
glazed ware, are not so good for most species. 
Very recently a new kind of pot has been placed 
in the market, made by Mr. Such of the New-Jer- 
sey kaolin from the pits at South Amboy. They 
are stronger, and can therefore be made thinner, 
than the common ones. Their color is creamy 
white ; and, although this is not so suitable as red 
for contrast with the ferns, they are much the most 
handsome pots for exhibition plants. The figures 
of pans and pots, given in Plate 8, serve to illus- 
trate these points. Fig. 7 is the ordinary flower- 
pot ; Fig. 6 the same, with one side flattened, 
that the pot may be placed on a bracket, or agauist 
a wall. Fig. 3 is a taller pot for deep-rooting spe- 
cies. Fig. 2, which is shown beneath in Fig. 4, is 
a small p:in (all pans should have more than one 
hole pierced through the bottom, for drainage). 
Fig. 5 is an open-work pot much used at the 
Botanic Garden in Cambridge for plants with 
creeping stems, and also to invert under other 
pans to raise the plants to a proper height on 
the shelves. Scoop-shaped pots are often used 



70 FERAS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



for such ferns as Platyceriiuii. All these forms 
may be made to order by any good potter ; and 
every large cultivator will find it desirable to adopt 
such patterns as are best suited to his particular 
needs, and have his pots or pans manufactured as 
they are required. 




CHAPTER VIII. 



TROPICAL AND TEMPERATE HOUSES. 



T has been previously stated that it is no 
part of this book to give advice respect- 
ing extensive works in any hne of fern- 
culture. The writer is not an architect ; nor does 
he possess a large greenhouse or estate upon which 
to lay out an extensive fern-garden. Again : a great 
deal has been written upon such luxurious estab- 
lishments, in English books and journals : for in 
Great Britain the fern-mania has long had posses- 
sion of cultivated and wealthy people ; and there, 
too, the climate aids, instead of frustrating, the ef- 
forts of fern-growers. In such periodicals as *'The 
Garden," "The Gardener's Chronicle," "Journal 
of Horticulture," and "The Gardener's Magazine," 
published in London, descriptions of fern-palaces 
are frequently to be found ; sometimes accom- 
panied by the architect's elevations and plans, and 
notices of the more valuable plants which they 
contain. In "Select Ferns," Mr. B. S. Williams 

71 



72 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



speaks of many of the most beautifully-kept estab- 
lishments of private owners ; and descriptions of the 
Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and other public 
conservatories, with lists of their ferns, are from 
time to time published. Among the wealthy culti- 
vators of exotic plants in this country, a large num- 
ber own beautiful ferns, sometimes remarkable 
examples of the more robust species ; but these 
are generally grown with the shade-loving plants 
in pots ; and few, if any, attempts have been made 
to give up any large house to the natural culture 
of ferns. Mr. Williams Select Ferns," p. 23) 
thus describes the fern-houses of S. Mendel, Esq., 
of Manly Hall, Manchester : There are two fern- 
cries in that place, a tropical and a temperate, — 
the former being 70 feet in length, 26 in breadth, 
and 17 feet high ; and the latter 96 feet in length, 
24 in breadth, and 16 high. They are situated at 
some distance from the mansion ; and, to arrive at 
them, a beautiful portion of the pleasure-grounds 
has to be traversed. 

"Upon entering the tropical house, such a 
display of enchanting fairy-like scenery suddenly 
meets the sight, that a few moments' pause is abso- 
lutely necessary to understand the transformation. 
Commencing to look at the place in detail, one 
becomes more enraptured at the taste and skill dis- 
played in the arrangement of the rock-work. Here 
a great bowlder is jutting out, there another, cov- 




Plate IX. Window Jardiniere. 



TROPICAL AND TEMPERATE HOUSES. 73 



ered with Selaginella ; and these cause the walk to 
wind round about them, and down into a valley 
with a small lake, in which are many choice aquatics, 
the fine pendulous tufts of grass-like foliage of the 
Egyptian paper-reed {Papyrus antiqiLorinn) making 
a beautiful contrast with such plants as Draccena 
termiiialis, graiidis^ and Cooperi, various Marmitas, 
many ferns, both arborescent and dwarf-growing 
species, CyanopJiyllitm magnificiLin, Alocasias, a 
stately TJieophrasta imperialis, and many other 
plants with fine foliage and flower which surround 
it. The crevices of the rocks are planted with 
vast quantities of dwarf ferns, and Selaginellas 
luxuriate in every possible place ; whilst peeping 
out from amongst them here and there are such 
plants as Goodyera pubescens and discolor, CepJialo- 
tiLs folliadaris, some handsome-leaved Eranthe- 
miLins, and many other little gems, which are 
thriving splendidly. 

" Passing out into a fern-clad recess, and cross- 
ing some water by a rustic bridge, you are in 
the temperate house. Here also ferns are grow- 
ing in the greatest luxuriance, the walk winding 
round masses of stone arranged in a perfectly nat- 
ural manner, over and amongst which the water 
splashes and tumbles like a mountain rill. You 
descend into a valley, and under some splendid 
specimens of such ferns as Dicksoiiia aiitarcHca, 
Cyathea medullaris, Dicksonia sqiiarrosa, AlsopJiila 



74 FERA/S IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



excelsa and azistralis ; and then you are led up so 
as to get a sight of the tops, which is quite en- 
chanting. The crevices of the rocks have mosses 
growing in them most luxuriantly ; a large number 
of species, many of them rare, having been col- 
lected from their various habitats specially for this 
purpose. Todeas also are the near neighbors of 
these, and many species of TricJiomaiies and Hy- 
menophylliLin are beginning to make themselves 
conspicuous. There are also to be found hanging 
from the roof in company with ferns, and in vari- 
ous other parts of the house, many orchids from 
the temperate regions of Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, 
&c., and thriving well : indeed, the whole collection 
is in excellent health and keeping." 

Shirley Hibberd speaks of several interesting 
collections ; but the establishment which pos- 
sesses the most merit for originality is that of 
Alfred Smee, Esq., of Carshalton : ''The walls 
are formed of solid banks of peat, which extend 
on either side of the plate on which the rafters 
rest, so as to form borders within and without. 
The house may be about eighty feet in length. 
The banks on either side are varied in outline ; and 
there is in one spot a basin tenanted with gold- 
fish, and surrounded with ferns of peculiarly novel 
aspect, v/hich are constantly bedewed by the spray 
from a fountain. The roof is a span running east 
and west : the south side of it is covered with felt. 



TROPICAL AND TEMPERATE HOUSES. 75 



and the north side with glass, — a plan which 
admits abundance of light, and renders shading 
wholly unnecessary. The whole structure is 
placed on a slope, the lower part being consid- 
erably below the outside ground-level. At this 
lowest part is placed the furnace, and there is an 
extra service of pipes there to maintain a stove 
temperature. At the upper end, the pipes suffice 
only to keep frost out. Thus in one house the 
ferns of tropical, temperate, and frigid zones are 
all accommodated ; and though the whole structure 
is rough, and has been constructed on the most 
economical principles, the interior presents at all 
seasons a grand spectacle, and affords a most de- 
lightful promenade." — Fern Garden, pp. 98, 99. 

Of course, to grow to perfection any of the taller 
species of arborescent ferns, a very high roof, or a 
dome on some portion of the structure, will be re- 
quired. Alsophila excelsa at the Botanic Garden, 
Cambridge, Mass., has now reached the glass at 
the highest part of the house, some twenty-five 
feet above the floor. This plant is many years old. 

Our greenhouses are usually built in summer ; 
and, for this reason, there is danger of our uncon- 
sciously making them too weak to endure the 
strain of ice and heavy snows which the winter of 
our rigorous Northern climate will bring. Between 
May and October, it is " very hard to realize that 
those charming designs contained in the English 



76 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



periodicals will never do for us. Even the archi- 
tects and builders among us, who ought to know 
the conditions of climate which are to try their 
work, frequently seem to ignore them. The unex- 
pected expenses of repairs and alterations soon 
serve as practical instructors. The trouble with 
a poorly-constructed plant-house generally begins 
with copings and joints ; and the best rule in build- 
ing is, to make every thing outside as strong and 
simple as possible. 

If the house is very high, there should be a 
gallery or something of the kind within ; for some 
of the best views of the plants can be only 
obtained from above. In houses where valuable 
plants have grown so tall that the glass of the 
roof endangers their beauty, pits may be dug, 
rather larger than is sufficient to contain the tubs 
in which the plants grow. These should be lined 
with brick. There are several of these pits in the 
plant-houses of Mr. Such at South Amboy. 

The temperature of the tropical house should 
average, in summer, about seventy-eight degrees 
Fahrenheit ; but, during intensely hot weather, it 
will be impossible to prevent its running much 
higher. In winter the mercury should be kept at 
seventy degrees, and never, by any accident, suf- 
fered to fall to a lower point than sixty degrees. 
In the temperate house, the thermometer should 
mark, as nearly as may be, forty-five degrees in 



TROPICAL AND TEMPERATE HOUSES. 



77 



winter ; never, if it can be prevented, over seventy- 
five degrees in summer. 

But, not to speak any longer of such expensive 
fern-houses as wealth only can construct, there are 
many persons who can afford a house of modest 
cost ; and, even if they are obliged to place in it 
all their winter stock of garden-plants, there is no 
reason for their being discouraged, and giving up 
their ideas of raising fine specimens of ferns. A 
house with a span-roof is to be preferred : but on 
some accounts, for the mixing of flowering plants 
and ferns, one with a single slope will do almost 
as well ; for a wide shelf at the upper part of the 
back will hold all the plants requiring bright sun, 
while at the same time it shades the lower portion 
of the house. If primarily the house is intended 
for ferns, it should face the north if the roof is a 
single slope, or run east and west if it is a span. 
A good size to easily manage for one's self, or with 
the assistance of one man who is supposed to do 
the general outside work of the garden as well, 
will be 30 by 20 feet, with a pitched roof, whose 
height may vary from 10 to 20 feet, according to 
the owner's fancy and the height of the plants 
to be cultivated. In the colder sections of the 
country, if the drainage of the land upon which 
the house stands is good, the walls should run 
much below the surface, and the house become as 
nearly as possible a roofed pit. The work spent 



78 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



upon a house should be chiefly to secure comfort 
to the plants, and security against sudden changes 
of the weather ; and all ornament is purely a 
matter of pleasure to its owner. In town, where 
the house is in a conspicuous situation, it may be 
worth while to consider the addition of any deco- 
rations that will not detract from its usefulness ; 
although it must be said that most of the fret- 
work and jig-saw "trimmings" seen on so many 
such buildings are an offence to the eye, as they 
are expensive to the purse. Unless it is certain 
that the money set aside for adornment will be 
most judiciously employed, we had best be on the 
safe side, and do our own decorating with good 
climbing-plants, trained on the ends of the house 
exposed to view. Nothing can excel the beautiful 
work of such natural decorators as Ampelopsis 
VetcJiii (or our own A. qiLinqiiefolia), Wistaria, and 
many other climbers which are hardy in the North- 
ern States. In the more genial warmth of the 
South, there is almost an endless list of plants 
available for this purpose. 

For the shelves of the house, wood must gener- 
ally suffice. To save trouble, and give the chance 
for greater evaporation, an inch of sand on the 
shelves, as a bed on which to set the pots, is 
serviceable. For more elaborate shelving, slate is 
the best material. Common roofing-slates set on 
the beams make a good foundation for a bench for 



TROPICAL AND TEMPERATE HOUSES. 79 



bottom heat. The sides can be of wood, and the 
trough thus made filled with sand. The centre of 
the house may be made into a raised bed in which 
to plant out the large specimens, or they may be 
placed upon it in their pots. If we do not care to 
grow the plants separately, so that they may be 
moved for exhibition or other purposes, the house, 
or as much of it as can be spared, m.ay be con- 
verted into a natural fernery, and rocks, water, 
wire screens, &c., may be introduced. The writer's 
fern-house may illustrate these suggestions for 
buildings of limited cost and pretensions. 

It was not originally built for the particular culti- 
vation of ferns, and is a single-slope house, 21 by 17 
feet, and 13 feet high at the back. It faces the 
south ; yet, with care, as fresh and healthy ferns can 
be grown in it as in a place better suited in plan to 
their special needs. And, what is more, very fair 
success has attended the cultivation of a collection 
of Cacti, Aloes, and Agaves, upon a shelf four feet 
below the top, at the back wall. 

This house has had only an amateur's care, and 
has been left, much of the time, to a young man, 
who, previous to this work, had no knowledge of 
plants. Although the general out-door duties of 
the place have also come to him to do, he has given 
the house such thoughtful attendance, that any 
thing worthy the name of a loss has rarely occurred. 
So it seems possible that the fear of the expense 



8o 



FERA^S IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



and trouble of a greenhouse need not be so great 
with any one who has in his employ a faithful man 
who can spare half an hour a day to its care, and 
also turn his hand to potting, watering, and the 
other requirements of the plants, under the eye 
of the owner ; who, by the way, should know 
something about these things himself. 

In this little fern-house, as in larger ones, care 
has to be taken to screen the plants sufficiently 
from the sun, as they are more easily burnt than 
an inexperienced person would suppose. Part of 
the house is kept shaded all the year ; but the rest 
is not so protected until March, and the screens 
are removed as early as the ist of October. The 
coarse cloth called unbleached sheeting makes ex- 
cellent screens, and may be used inside or outside 
of the glass. The use of any sort of wash on the 
glass, to abate the intensity of the light, gives the 
place an untidy appearance, and, unless oil-paint 
is employed, will soon be disfigured by streaks, 
and come off at last entirely, as the moisture pro- 
duced by sprinkling collects and runs down the 
glass. A dark-green glass has, according to Smith, 
been used in England. He says Ferns, British 
and Foreign," p. 336), ''In former years, the fruit 
and plant houses at Kew were glazed with a very 
dark - green glass called Stourbridge - green, and 
which was patronized by the late Mr. Alton. Fine 
crops of fruit were produced under it ; also the 



CHEILANTHES LANUGINOSA, NUTT. 



TROPICAL AND TEMPERATE HOUSES. 



8l 



tropical plants in the Botanic Garden flourished 
without the aid of canvas or shade of any kind. 
Not many years ago, solitary squares of this glass 
might be seen in the roofs of the old hot-houses, 
which strongly contrasted with the modern clear 
glass. My experience with this glass led me to 
recommend green glass for the palm-house, which 
was adopted ; but the modern-made green tint does 
not appear to be so fixed a color as the old Stour- 
bridge-green." Various kinds of mats and screens 
will suggest themselves to every greenhouse-owner, 
and the most convenient things can readily be 
turned to account. 

As for heating-apparatus, there will be no trou- 
ble in finding forms enough to select from. It is 
important to choose one not unnecessarily large 
for the work it has to do, and yet not so small as 
to require forcing in very cold weather, or to de- 
mand attention during the night. Large furnaces, 
like most bodies of size, are steadier in their work- 
ing, and can be as well managed to give a small 
amount of heat as those of less capacity. The 
writer has used for several years, in his fern-house, 
a small Whitely hot-water furnace. It has a 
''shaking" grate ; and has never, even in the cold- 
est weather, required attention between seven p.m. 
and seven a.m. Several others of the same pattern 
have been observed to be successful in their work- 
ing ; and this form oiE heater may especially be 



82 FERxVS IN THEIR HOMES AiVD OURS. 



recommended for a small house. In the larger 
establishments near Boston, the Hitchings and 
Smith & Lynch boilers are most frequently em- 
ployed. The old-fashioned "saddle-back" boilers 
are fast disappearing from use. If the chimney is 
first made to pass through the house in the form 
of a brick flue, much heat from the smoke is 
saved ; but the danger of the leakage of the prod- 
ucts of combustion, which might, in half an hour, 
allow gases enough to escape to destroy the whole 
collection, may be an argument against this econ- 
omy. It creates the necessity of a constant watch 
to guard against such a result ; and the few dollars 
saved are more than balanced by the difficulty, in 
dull days, of kindling a fire with the draught of so 
long and crooked a chimney. 




CHAPTER IX. 



FERN-CASES. 




|HE conservatory and the enclosed window 
are beyond the reach of many people who 
I love ferns, and would be glad to make 
their homes beautiful by the cultivation of these 
dehcate plants. The desires of such can be an- 
swered by ferneries or Wardian-cases, which sup- 
ply, to a sufficiently large extent and with the least 
possible requirement of daily care, the domestic 
means of growing ferns. In dwellings heated by 
steam, and into which gas and furnaces have not 
been introduced, a few species of ferns will con- 
sent to grow at the northern windows. There is 
so small a number of these, that they may receive 
only this allusion. The purpose of this chapter 
is to explain how, in spite of ''modern conven- 
iences" and their continual war against nature, 
we may contrive to introduce and keep a bit of 
perpetual summer in our homes. 

The fernery, or Wardian-case as it was first 

83 



84 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



called, is only an adaptation of the cover-glass al- 
ways used by gardeners to protect delicate plants ; 
and is only doing, on an enlarged and more elegant 
scale, what our grandmothers used to do to strike 
cuttings under a tumbler. The lovers of house- 
plants, however, owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. 
B. N. Ward of London, who was the first to sug- 
gest the present in-door method of treating ferns. 

The amateur of unlimited means may order 
from his cabinet-maker, without consideration of 
form or price, what will be called in the bill " one 
fernery ; " but it is only a single mechanic in the 
hundred who will properly construct it. The usual 
and fatal mistake in building fern-cases is to em- 
ploy far too much woodwork, and too little glass. 
Eastlake's favorite word for all furniture is " sin- 
cere ; " and to the fernery this word should be 
applied with its full force. The fernery should be 
made for the purpose which its name implies, and 
not to be an elegant parlor-cabinet. The simpler 
its form, the better, so long as its proportions are 
well chosen. All unnecessary mosque-like domes, 
all jogs, breaks in the curves, and mouldings, 
should be carefully avoided. It has been observed, 
at the exhibitions of the Boston Horticultural 
Society, that during the last five years the styles 
of fern-cases have steadily improved. One case 
can, however, be called to mind, that resembled a 
child's cofiin more than any thing which could 



FERN-CASES. 



85 



suggest the idea of a fernery, which was not very 
long ago placed on view by a proud contribu- 
tor, and which, it is to be regretted, obtained a 
prize. Six months later the owner was forced to 
remove the cover, that the plants might rise to 
any thing like their natural height. This planting 
of ferns which soon become too large for the case 
is, by the way, one of the most common mistakes 
made by the inexperienced fern-grower. 

To form the frame of the case, iron is preferable 
to wood, both for strength and lightness. Many 
styles of cases with iron frames have been recently 
put upon the market. Plate 11 is a representa- 
tion of a case which Messrs. M, D. Jones & Co. 
of Boston manufacture for 1^30. The base is six 
inches deep (inside measure) ; and the legs, which 
are 30 inches high, are strongly braced. The case 
itself is 35 inches by 20 inches, and is 22 inches 
high from the base to the summit of the curved 
glass top. The panels in the base are the only 
woodwork about it, and are ebonized, or may be 
painted dark Pompeian red, and the ironwork 
painted red and black, at the owner's fancy. The 
case may be lifted from the base ; and at each end 
is a door, which, instead of moving on hinges, is 
arranged to lift out. The top may also be con- 
structed so that it can be elevated for ventilation. 
Mr. Emerton in his drawing has filled the case 
with Nephrolepis exaltata^ BlechniLin Brasiliense^ 



86 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



two species of Adimitmn, and a few small species 
which were growing at the time in another fernery. 

The zinc pan, which is usually the receptacle in 
ferneries for the plants, may be painted inside with 
a coat of tar (do not use gas-tar), or several coats 
of shellac. It must be so fitted to the table, that 
the moisture running down the glass inside shall 
fall into the pan. If the fern-case is so constructed 
that this water can find its way outside, the metal 
will rust, and the woodwork decay ; and, in a few 
seasons, a case which might have lasted a lifetime 
will be ruined. 

In PI. 13 is represented what we shall venture 
to call the Eastlake Fernery. The frame is of 
ash, stained dark: the ornamentation is simple 
tooling and chamfering. The sloping top furnish- 
es a good opportunity for ventilation. There is a 
door in one side only ; and the top lifts from the 
base, as in the iron-framed case. Mr. J. W. Ayers 
of Salem, who has given special attention to the 
manufacture of Eastlake furniture, will make a 
case of this pattern 24 inches by 16 inches, with a 
height, including the table, of 49 inches, as seen 
in the plate, for $25. The ferns in this case are 
Aspidium molle, Pteris cretica albo-lineata, Adian- 
Umi Capilliis -Veneris, Poly podium Califomicum, 
Nephrolepis exaltata, wdth Selaginellas. 

Any one who is fortunate enough to possess a 
fair degree of mechanical skill can easily make for 



FERN-CASES. 



87 



himself a case which shall meet all the require- 
ments of fern-growing, and in which the cost shall 
be reduced to the very lowest possible figure. For 
a case 24 by 16 by 18 inches in length, breadth, 
and height respectively, the expense for wood, 
glass, putty, filling, oil, pan, &c., would cost no 
more than $J, while the cabinet-maker's charges 
would be at least ^15. Cases with a pitched roof 
should have one side of the top hinged, so that 
this can be raised by a chip or a bit of paper for 
ventilation ; and every fernery should be so con- 
structed that it may be easily raised from its base. 

The writer, who is not a good mechanic, wishing 
to multiply his ferneries without in the same pro- 
portion increasing the expense, devised the fern- 
case represented in PI. 15. Many other people 
may have themselves invented the same ; but, as 
the design is not patented, we shall not infringe 
upon each other's rights. The following directions 
may be useful to some readers : — 

First procure an inch-thick pine board, 24 by 18 
inches in size. As our large pines are so rapidly 
disappearing, it is most likely that this can only be 
obtained by gluing several narrow boards together. 
Around this bottom board, and at right angles 
with it, nail a strip of hard wood (say ash or 
walnut) four to six inches wide. The top of this 
strip, or the edge which will come on top, may be 
bevelled (PI. 15, Fig. 4), and have, perhaps, a 



88 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



little groove cut for ornament three-fourths of an 
inch below the bevel. Before nailing on, glue 
around the edge of the bottom board a piece of 
listing to make the joints tight when the hard- 
wood strip is in place. This would make a 
carpenter laugh ; but we are building a fernery 
where we do not care to keep up a continual and 
perhaps ineffectual use of the square. When all 
is dry, give the inside a good coat of tar, or, if it 
seem necessary, two or three. Of course you can 
avoid all this trouble by being at the expense of a 
zinc pan ; but the less costly plan is practically as 
good. Now procure some German glass (as flat 
as possible), — two pieces sJwrt 24 by 18 inches, 
two short 18 by 18, and one 25 by 19. Set up the 
first four pieces in the tarred tray, holding them in 
place by books piled against them ; and paste over 
the united edges at each corner outside (PI. 15, 
Fig. 2) a tape one inch wide, turning it over only 
a very little at the top, for the condensed moisture 
will soon loosen any thing pasted inside. After 
allowing the tape to dry, cover it with a strip of 
dark paper ; and also bind the edges of the fifth 
and largest glass, which is to lie flat and unfastened 
on top as the cover, with the same. Remove the 
books, and the fernery is completed as we see it in 
PI. 15, Fig. I. Of course these proportions may 
be varied ; and a portion of the glass which seems 
wasted by going into the tray may be saved by 




Plate XI. Iron-framed Fern-Case. 



FERN-CASES. 



&9 



fastening blocks of wood inside the tray, — one at 
each corner, and one in the centre of eacli side 
and end. Tlie glass will rest on these, only being 
allowed to come sufficiently below the upper edge 
of the tray to keep the case firmly in position. 
As nearly as can be estimated, the cost of such a 
fernery will be, — 



Three feet pine, sawed into shape . . $0.25 
Three feet walnut, bevelled and grooved . .75 

Tar 10 

Glass 3.25 

Two yards tape 08 

One sheet paper . . ' 10 

Nails 05 



Total . . . $4.58 

The listing and glue should always be at hand 
in every house. This fernery has all the essentials 
of the ^30 case shown in PI. 11; and the plants 
will thrive in it as well, perhaps even better. 
Instead of flour-paste for fastening the binding- 
tape, the rubber cement made by dissolving pure 
rubber in benzole or chloroform may be used, or 
even shellac varnish ; which latter may be improved 
by the addition of a little of the rubber solution. 
Or, again, the glass may be set in an inexpensive 
zinc frame soldered at the corners. If a zinc pan 
is desired for a case of this description, the joints 
in the base need not be made tight ; but, the list 



go FERiVS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



and glue being omitted, the moulding or strip of 
hard wood may be nailed directly to the bottom 
board as shown in the section, PI. 15, Fig. 3. 

The examples so far given are only to show the 
extremes in expense of fern-case manufacture. 
The space to be occupied by the fernery, the 
height of the window at which it is to stand, &c., 
must, in each instance, be considered. As the 
window is high or low, the supports of the fernery 
must be long or short, so as in either case to bring 
the pan to a level with the window-sill ; for, al- 
though ferns do not endure the direct rays of 
the sun, they do not flourish in a dark room. Be- 
sides, a situation in a living-room, which may 
seem to us very well illuminated, may not possess 
the quality of light in which plants thrive the 
best. A good illustration of this point, regarding 
the actinic power of light, is at hand. The photo- 
graph wdiich forms the frontispiece to this book 
was taken in a greenhouse whose top of glass is 
exposed to the south, and required an exposure of 
two and one-fourth minutes in the camera. Imme- 
diately afterwards, on the same day, a view was 
taken in a well-lighted room of the dwelling-house 
adjoining. The exposure here required with the 
same lens was twenty-six minutes. It is probable 
that the same quality of light required to produce 
a good negative is also necessary to produce good 
plants. 



FERN-CASES. 



91 



As a general thing, very large cases are more 
difficult to manage than smaller ones. There is a 
possibility of getting them too large. To counter- 
act some of the troubles which attend over-sized 
ferneries, they are sometimes artificially heated. 
This may be done by applying heat to pans of 
water in which the fern-pan is placed, or by coils 
of piping passing under and around the pan. The 
water in either case may be warmed by a lamp or 
stove outside, or connected with the water-heating 
apparatus of the dwelling. The writer has had no 
experience with cases so warmed ; but, in his 
judgment, coil-heating is to be preferred, as it will 
render it less troublesome to move the case, and 
as the drainage of the fernery can be better 
effected between the heating-pipes at the bottom 
than through a reservoir of warmed water which 
covers the entire under surface of the case. Shir- 
ley Hibberd, in "The Fern Garden," proposes a 
plan for draining a fernery warmed in the latter 
way ; but the coil system seems the best. All 
this piping should be done by an experienced 
plumber, as it requires considerable skill so to 
adjust every thing that the water shall flow with 
regularity. Mr. W. H. Halliday of West Street, 
Boston, has given much attention to the construc- 
tion of fern -cases, having dealt in them for 
several years. In a paper read before the Massa- 
chusetts Horticultural Society in January, 1876, 



92 



FERA'S IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



he gives the following account of some of his 
experiments : — 

" I had two large windows facing the south ; but a build- 
ing obscured the rays of the sun part of the time. In the 
windows I placed tvvo cases, each forty inches long by 
eighteen inches wide. The box was six inches deep, with 
an inner box fitting loosely to receive the soil. An inch 
moulding fitted around, projecting half an inch above the 
box, to receive the sash. The sash was on two sides four- 
teen inches high, the ends solid, and the inside faced with 
mirrors. You will readily see that I introduced the mirrors 
to double the effect, and render the whole more beautiful. 
Upon this sash was a top ten inches high, sloping on the 
two sides, which fitted to and was kept in place by an inch 
moulding. This top could be removed to reach the plants, 
or tilted up a little if ventilation was desired. One of these 
cases I devoted to native plants, the other to exotics. I 
made many trips to the woods, and my case of natives was 
soon in a prosperous condition. I filled it with all sorts of 
plants that happened in my way, among which I remember 
the blood-root, hepatica, trailing arbutus, pitcher-plant, lyco- 
podium, Mitchella 7'epens, Polypoditun vulgar e., and Adian- 
tum pedatiim. All these did remarkably well ; but I found, 
when winter came, that many of them dropped off to sleep, 
and the curtain fell for the season. 

" Having had such good success with these cases, I thought 
I would tr}' one on a larger scale. The plan was soon in the 
hands of the cabinet-maker, and in due time made and set 
up in its allotted place. This was made very large, for an 
experimental case. Many of you will remember it, as it was 
exhibited in this hall, four or five years ago, at the Annual 
Exhibition. It was nearly four feet square, and stood six 
feet high from the floor to the top of the roof. The box 



FERN-CASES. 



93 



stood two feet high, set on heavy casters, and moving on a 
pivot, so that it could be readily turned to the light as the 
plants required. The inner box was half an inch smaller 
than the outside all round, eleven inches deep, thoroughly 
covered with white-lead paint, and perforated through the 
bottom with inch holes for drainage. The glass case, thirty 
inches high, fitted into a moulding projecting above and 
around the top of the box. The sash was made very strong, 
with iron braces set into each corner. Each of the four 
sides consisted of two panes of glass, two panes on two 
sides serving as doors. The roof was formed of four slop- 
ing sides, surmounted by a flat cap of wood twelve inches 
square, tapering upward, with a turned point twelve inches 
high. This cap fitted on like a cover, and could be easily 
removed if necessary. The case was thoroughly painted 
with three coats of white lead, and cost, when completed, 
seventy dollars." 

This introduction of mirrors would only be 
proper when the fernery was so placed that the 
ends were hidden from view. The remarks con- 
cerning native plants in the fernery cover the 
ground ; for, if we desire to have growing plants 
in winter, we must take species from the tropics, 
which need little or no rest. Native plants are 
best out of doors ; or they should be suffered to 
remain over winter in a cool place, and only 
brought in early in the spring to unfold. They 
are therefore particularly suited, if kept in this 
way, for the open in-doors fern-stand. 

Farther on in his essay Mr. Halliday says, — 
" But, after a while, the case did not work as well as I 



94 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



expected. The ferns did not do well at all, but damped off, 
till I grew quite discouraged. I continued to replace the 
decayed plants by others, with no better results. I thought 
the trouble might be caused by want of heat, as the room 
at night and on Sundays, when I was not on hand to look 
after the fires, might become quite cool. With this thought 
came the idea of heating the case. I had made at the tin- 
man's a small boiler holding a gallon of water. Behind the 
case, near the floor, I placed a gas-jet, and over this the 
boiler, removing a panel from the box of the case, then 
fitting it so that it could be opened or closed at pleasure. 
The inner box, containing the soil, being eleven inches 
deep, left a space of twelve inches underneath : in this 
space I placed tubing enough to extend completely round 
the case, and to connect with the boiler outside. All seemed 
to work like a charm. I then went to work to ventilate the 
case, giving a little air at a time ; till at last I removed the 
square of wood from the roof, and replaced it with a piece 
of plate-glass, w^hich I could remove wholly or in part ; and 
this, with the aid of the panel which was opened for heat, 
furnished the means for ventilation. I soon saw that it was 
the one thing needed. Every thing worked well from this 
time." 

The subject alluded to here, that of ventilation, 
must receive especial attention. Some have the 
erroneous idea, that, to fully carry out the theory 
of a fernery, we must almost hermetically seal the 
case. But, while a few species of Hymeiiophyllum 
and Trichomanes may live under such conditions, 
the majority need air in limited quantities. A lit- 
tle slide in either the woodwork or the glass 
below, w^ith one also at the top to permit a 



FERN-CASES. 



95 



gentle circulation outward, will supply all that 
is necessary. Too much air is as bad as too 
little : so, like every thing else connected with 
fern or plant culture, judgment must be used. It 
is absurd to try to grow plants by an inexorable 
rule, without varying their treatment according to 
the circumstances and requirements of each ; just 
as the same inflexible system would fail to succeed 
with children of different constitutions and capaci- 
ties. If a person, moreover, has no love for plants, 
no intuitive sense of how to manage them, he will 
undertake a hopeless task in the endeavor to culti- 
vate them because it is fashionable, or because of 
their artistic effect in the house. 

A kind of combined greenhouse and fernery is 
sometimes made by devoting an entire window 
to this purpose, either by constructing a ''bay," 
or building up on the inside an enclosure suffi- 
ciently deep to hold as many plants as are desired. 
Ventilation or heat can be supplied by openings 
near the top and bottom. A zinc pan will be 
needed on the floor, and some little distance up 
the sides, to catch superfluous water, which now 
and then can be drawn off through a pipe and 
faucet from the lowest corner, and opening into 
the room. Ivies, climbing-plants, and plants in 
hanging-baskets, flourish well in such a place, as 
do also all ferns which would be suitable for a 
large fernery. The inner glass should be set in 



96 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



large doors, so that the whole may be thrown 
open towards the room, and all the plants be 
reached at any time. 

For circular ferneries, any bell-glass or glass 
cover on any kind of dish has all the practical value 
of any of the most elaborate and expensive parlor 
stands. Broken retorts from the laboratory have 
been converted into charming fern-cases. But best 
of all is the glass dome which has for years cov- 
ered the fast-dropping bouquet of wax flowers in 
the best parlor. This, in connection with a deep 
old Delft plate from the cupboard, may become of 
some real service, and, filled with pretty ferns, make 
the living-room smile with its suggestions of tropi- 
cal warmth. 

The black glass or "slag " ware makes the clean- 
est base for the circular fernery. It is sold in all 
sizes at a very reasonable price. Great care must 
be taken that the glass cover fits loosely into the 
base, as it is likely to snap if it is held too tight- 
ly. PI. 17 shows a fernery whose base is of this 
ware. It seems as good as ever, after a service 
of many years. The terra-cotta or earthen-ware 
bases, some which are well decorated, are very 
pretty ; but in time the absorbed moisture causes 
the paint to peel off, and they become hopelessly 
shabby. In the paper previously referred to, Mr. 
Halliday describes a hanging-fernery, which the 
writer remembers to have been especially attrac- 
tive : — 




CHEILANTHES CALIFORNICA, METT. 



FERN-CASES, 



97 



" The hanging-fernery I designed to take the place of the 
hanging-basket, which so seldom appears in good condition 
in the home. The base was turned from walnut, several 
pieces being glued and nailed together to get the proper 
depth, and also to keep the wood from warping. It tapered 
to a point at the bottom, to give lightness to its appearance. 
A zinc pan, with a rim to receive the shade, fitted the base 
loosely enough to be readily removed when watering was 
necessary. This, as first constructed, was covered with a. 
shade eight inches in diameter and ten inches high, and was 
suspended by silvered copper wire. The case first exhibited 
had a shade twelve inches in diameter, and fourteen inches 
high; was elaborately turned from maple and walnut, orna- 
mented with ebony trimmings, and filled with the following- 
named plants : Onychium Japonicu7n^ Adiantuin assiinile^ 
A.cuneatujn^ Selaginella Wildenovii, Pajiicuin variegatum^ 
Fitt07tia Pearcei^ F. argyroneura^ Lycopodium denticulatum 
var., and Mitchella repens^ some lichens and wood-mosses. 

" This case, when taken from the hall, was suspended in 
my window, where it received the morning sun for about an 
hour each day, and was not disturbed again till January, ex- 
cepting when it was occasionally turned to the light. It was 
a mass of green. I noticed considerable soil on the glass, 
carried up by slugs in their nocturnal rambles ; also some 
decayed fronds of the Adiantum. Altogether it was as much 
of a success as a close case could be, and would probably 
satisfy most people who grow plants for home decoration." 

He also says, — 

" The great difficulty I have always found in ferneries is 
to reach the plants after they have filled, or partly filled, 
the case. It is easy enough to remove the shade ; but to 
replace it, so that the plants may retain their former position, 
is not so easy. Frequently I have been forced to allow a 



98 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



large slug to have his own way, rather than disturb the shade 
when the case was looking finely ; and, in many instances, 
have allowed decayed fronds to remain, rather than run the 
risk of destroying the arrangement by removing the shade. 
It was almost as much on this account as for ventilation 
that I constructed the dome-top or ventilated fern-case, which 
is as easily managed as an ordinary Wardian-case. Lifting 
the dome does not disarrange the plants, as they are all con- 
fined within the cylinder, which need never be disturbed for 
this purpose. This case is constructed as follows : — 

" The case or stand is of wood, six inches deep, and rest- 
ing upon three small feet. There is a large opening under- 
neath, covered with a movable slide to admit or exclude the 
air. It has a zinc pan one-half an inch less all round than 
the wooden case. This half-inch space is covered all around 
at the top of the pan, which leaves a flat surface of zinc one 
inch wide, with an outside rim to receive the glass cylinder. 
This flat surface of zinc is pierced with half-inch holes in its 
entire circumference about three inches apart. When the 
glass cylinder is in place, the half-inch holes are inside 
the case. The cylinder, of annealed glass, fits neatly into the 
zinc rim, and is fifteen inches in diameter by fourteen inches 
in height. Encircling the upper edge of the cylinder is a 
copper rim, one inch wide, with edge turned downward on 
the outside, a quarter of an inch wide, to fit on to the cylinder. 
The flat surface of the rim is perforated with quarter-inch 
holes ; and the inner edge turns up a quarter of an inch to 
receive the dome, or cover, which is eight inches high, and 
twelve and a half inches in diameter. The holes in this cop- 
per rim are on the outside ; so that, when the valve in the bot- 
tom of the case is open, the air passes up through the holes 
round the zinc pan, and out at the copper rim. The whole 
case, when complete, stands twenty-nine inches high." 

The ventilation of the circular fernery is more 



FERN-CASES. 



99 



difficult than that of the larger cases of wood or 
iron. It will often be enough to tilt the shade up 
on one side by inserting a chip under it, so that a 
little air may be admitted. An excellent plan, as 
the writer can certify from trial, is suggested by 
Shirley Hibberd : — 

" In the case of fern-shades which fit into glass dishes, 
and which, as long as there is water lodged in the rim into 
which the lower edge of the shade rests, are air-tight, air 
must be given three times a week by removing the shade 
altogether for an hour or so. This allows the excess of 
water to dry off the foliage, and prevents mould; and, the 
glass getting dry in the mean while, it is prepared to take up 
afresh supply of moisture from the soil when replaced, which 
is equivalent to a circulation of water as well as a change 
of air. This air-giving, however, must be regulated by dis- 
cretion ; for, if the air of the room is hot and dry, sudden 
exposure of the plants to it may do them harm. Moreover, 
it is a very easy matter to remove the glass, and forget it, 
the result being perhaps complete destruction of all the more 
tender fronds, and the disfigurement of the affair for a fort- 
night. Now, a very simple and expeditious and effectual 
mode of ventilating consists in taking off the glass, wiping it 
dry and bright, and replacing it at once. There is then no 
fear of forgetting it." 

Fernery-bases may be made of any required size 
and depth at almost any pottery ; and if, like a 
flower-pot, they have holes pierced in the bottom, 
and are fitted with saucers, their contents may be 
treated exactly like potted ferns in the greenhouse. 
They are more clumsy in appearance, but have 



lOO FERA^S I AT THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



many good qualities. It is to be hoped, that, out 
of the prevailing mania for decorative art, some 
designs for pretty and useful fernery-bases may be 
evolved. 

The illustration (PI. i8, Fig. 2) is a pretty Jap- 
anese design from an English work. The shelf 
below holds a jar; and the base of the fernery is 
a shallow Chinese bowl, such as one often sees 
in the old houses in Salem and Boston. PL 
18, Fig. 3, is an original design. The base is 
a Russian bowl, of the same sort as is recom- 
mended by Clarence Cook for a hands-basin in 
the hall, and is secured to the legs, which are 
made from a bamboo fishing-pole, by bolts with 
nuts inside the bowl. A wire runs through the 
legs, where they cross, to make a firm joint. 
Within the bowl there should be a zinc pan in 
which to plant the ferns. The cost of the whole, 
without the glass shade, was two dollars and fifty 
cents. 

As regards drainage, the case may or may not 
have an outlet. Under proper care, it does not 
need one. But, to insure complete drainage 
under any circumstances, it is well to have an 
opening wherever it can be conveniently ar- 
ranged. A common kerosene-lamp bulb, such an 
one as is placed in the usual iron bracket-ring 
support, is as good as any thing for the receptacle 
for superfluous water. A burner may be found to 



FERN-CASES. 



lOI 



fit the screw collar of the bulb : then all of the 
burner must be cut away except its ring or tube 
carrying the thread of the screw which fits the 
bulb-collar. Now solder this remaining portion 
of the burner to an opening made in the bottom 
of the fern-pan, so that the tube with its thread 
projects below. To this the bulb can then be 
screwed, and will serve as a reservoir for the 
drainage of the pan. Exactly such an arrange- 
ment may be found on a German student-lamp to 
catch the drip of oil from its wick-holder. The 
bottom of the pan should be sloped, or indented 
with grooves, to direct the flow of water towards 
the opening to which the bulb is fastened. If 
such drainage cannot be arranged, and it is sus- 
pected that the fern-case is suffering from too 
much water, and that the drainage-material in the 
bottom of the pan is filled up, a hole can be 
pierced in the bottom, near one corner, and some 
vessel placed or hung permanently underneath to 
receive surplus water ; and, if now the case be so 
tilted that the water will run toward the opening, 
all excess will soon be drained away. In filling 
the case or pan, it will be found that fragments, 
the size of a half-dollar and smaller, of broken 
flower-pots or similar material, will be best for 
drainage-purposes. There should be enough of 
them to cover the bottom at least two inches 
deep ; and to prevent the earth with which the 



I02 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



pan is to be filled from washing into this drain- 
age, and choking it up, a very thin layer of Sphag- 
num moss or hay should be placed over it. 
Should broken flower-pots not be at hand, any 
earthenware might be made to answer, or even 
small broken stones, or even pebbles, as a last 
resort. As circular ferneries are generally con- 
structed for sale, we seldom find any provision for 
the escape of surplus water : greater care is there- 
fore to be taken wdth such, to guard against over- 
w^atering. Good drainage is of equal importance 
for ferns in pots or window-boxes. A short expe- 
rience will teach us that it is the most important 
thing to be considered, and quite as essential to 
the health of the plants as a good system of sewer- 
age is to that of the human family. 

Ferns, in general, should be often sprinkled on 
their tops ; but their roots should only be watered 
when the earth in the case seems to be growing 
dry. If we have Gold-Ferns or Maidenhairs, we 
must keep water away from their fronds. A 
clothes-sprinkler is a good apparatus to use for 
fern-w^atering, as with it we can see exactly how 
much water is applied, and know that we are not 
giving an excessive supply. Williams gives the 
following advice regarding ferneries : " Do not 
keep your ferns too wet. To grow ferns in per- 
fection in glass cases, they ought to have fresh 
soil every year ; and the best time to effect this 



FERN-CASES. 



operation is in March or April." Much less fear 
may be felt of changing the earth of ferneries, or 
transplanting plants in the greenhouse, than of 
doing the same to plants under ordinary win^dow- 
culture or out of doors, because the glass keeps 
the air stationary about them, and prevents that 
evaporation of moisture which the lately-disturbed 
rootlets have not recovered sufficiently to supply, 
while the circulation of air around plants growing 
out of doors or in the dry atmosphere of the liv- 
ing-room is almost sure at times to baffle our at- 
tempts at transplanting. 

Very pretty effects may be produced in a fern- 
case by the use of pumice-stone broken into rea- 
sonably small pieces. Druggists sell this material 
for about ten cents a pound. In small ferneries, 
a few fragments may be used to form a rockery 
for the creeping ferns ; and, in a large case, arches, 
walls, and ruins may be built with it very easily. 
Common cement, mixed as if for mending walls, 
may be used to lay the pumice in ; and, as this sets 
quickly, almost any design can be very soon built. 
The whole structure should be finally washed with 
a thin mixture of cement, to give it the proper 
color. 

Old logs look well in a fernery ; but they are 
so apt to introduce insects and fungi, that we 
should not be in too much haste to insert them. 
If the case is a lofty one, we may, with good effect, 



104 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



hang up a basket of cocoanut shell or husk, or of 
bark, with a fern growing in it. The Tillandsia 
(often miscalled Southern long moss) sometimes 
grows well thus suspended from the top. Orchids 
are very interesting, but require more room than 
can generally be spared for them ; and, besides, 
they are too valuable to risk in a fernery, if we 
have a greenhouse in which they may be kept. 
Whatever is added, do not introduce too great 
a variety of objects. Remember that it is a 
fernery, not a curiosity-box^ of which we are 
speaking. 

In allusion to the ornaments which are often 
placed in ferneries, Williams says, "Care must 
be taken, however, that such things are not studied 
at the expense of the ferns or other plants. The 
error of fitting up a fern-case with a quantity of ob- 
jects of curiosity, such as fossils, shells, minerals, 
&c., is one too often fallen into, and the ferns 
become only of secondary importance." Eastlake 
would give us the same advice, not only in regard 
to the contents of the case, but its construction 
as well. If the case is to be a fernery, build it, 
no matter how little or how great you make its 
cost, to contain fer7zs, so that they will be the ob- 
jects first considered when looking at the case. 
Over-adornment, inside or out, is in bad taste ; 
and too much woodwork in proportion to the 
glass shows wrong ideas in construction. Fern- 




Plate XIII. Eastlake Fernery. 



FERN-CASES. 



cases are sometimes seen in which there is so 
little glass, that it seems like a panel of some 
choice material set for display in a splendid mould- 
ing, as costly tiles might be mounted in the jar- 
diniere. Now, the less conspicuous the material 
which forms the frame to hold the glass, whether 
it be wood, iron, or paper, the better it is. And, 
even when made as light as possible, it should be 
painted or stained a color which may still farther 
reduce its prominence as seen among the plants. 
For this purpose, chocolate, or brick-red with 
black, will do as well as any thing. The chocolate- 
color recommends itself also for the interior of a 
greenhouse, as it is complementary to green, and 
plants and fronds look well against it. For the 
same reason also, black-walnut, dark mahogany, 
or other deep-reddish woods, are most suitable in 
color for the construction of the frame of the fern- 
case. 

Other plants than ferns can be successfully 
grown in cases ; but they are comparatively few. 
A list of the best will be given at another page of 
this book. For circular ferneries, the most beauti- 
ful of all such plants are the Selaginellas. They 
grow best when left to themselves, and, as they do 
not mind close quarters, will not require that the 
shade be lifted for a long time, — sometimes for 
months. 

Finally, keep the fern-case near the light, but 



Io6 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



not in the sun. Eastern, northern, or western 
windows are better than a southern exposure. 
Above all, do not attempt to manage by rule ; but 
be moderate in all things, and continually use 
common sense. 



CHAPTER X. 



FERNS IN THE LIVING-ROOM. 




HE design given in PI. 9 is a combination 
of ideas, having had for its first suggestion 
' the plan of a window in Mr. E. C. Gard- 
ner's very attractive and sensible book, "Home 
Interiors." Mr. Emerton has added the jardini- 
ere and appropriate wall-decorations. 

The jardiniere has two compartments, the one 
next the window being ten inches higher than the 
one below. In the former it is intended to place 
the sun-loving plants, — P elargoniimis , Petunias, 
Fuchsias, Draccenas, &c. ; and in the lower portion, 
where they will be in partial shade, the ferns are 
to be grown. The interest of the design does not 
end with the plants themselves. The frieze around 
the room has a Camptosorus for the figure, and 
India palm-leaf fans are fastened along it at in- 
tervals. The wall-paper is of a morning-glory 
pattern, with a border of butterflies at the top, 
and, at the bottom, one of spiders ; for which 

107 



I08 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



last decoration Mr. Emerton is responsible. The 
tiles in the jardiniere are supposed to have been 
adorned by the lady-owner with a conventional 
Sagittai'ia ; and the whole represents, in part, what 
a true lover of flowers, who is also something of 
an artist, has made of the living-room. 

Ferns are not often found under cultivation in 
the dwelling-house. Their successful growth with- 
out the protection of glass presents so many diffi- 
culties, that efforts in this direction are not much 
encouraged. They dislike dry air, dust, and gas ; 
and therefore they do not flourish under the ordi- 
nary circumstances of our houses. In rooms mod- 
erately heated, where no gas escapes from stoves 
or furnace, and especially where the pressure from 
the gas-meter is not so great as to drive half- 
consumed burning-gas into the air at evening, 
many species may be made to do well in pots. 
But little need be said regarding the management 
of ferns grown in this way, besides repeating the 
injunctions already given more than once con- 
cerning good drainage, — water at the roots when 
dry, sprinkling, and northern window, or partial 
shade. 

PI. 21 is taken from an elegant Chinese stand 
and jardiniere. It was originally designed for the 
cultivation of bulbs, of which the Chinese are par- 
ticularly fond, and with which they have marvel- 
lous success. But, as a fernery, it is very beautiful ; 



FERNS IN THE LIVING-ROOM. 



109 



and, as the receptacle for the plants is of soapstone, 
it may be sprinkled without injury. 

Among the ferns suitable for open in-door cul- 
ture are — 

Nephrolepis exaltata. 
Nephrolepis tuberosa. 
Onychium JaponicMui. 
Adiantu77i fonnosu7n. 
A diantiim hispidiiliiin. 
Gy77i7iogr amine chrysophylla. 
Gy 771 71 ogra i7t 771 e calo77tela7i os. 
Davallia Ca7iarie7isis. 
Pteris tre77i7ila. 
Pteris serrulata. 

Pteris quadriatirita, var. argyrea. 
Platyceriu77i alcicorfie. 

m 

Very pretty arrangements of our native ferns and 
mosses are made by many persons of taste during 
summer journeys among the mountains or other 
places where these plants abound. For this work 
tall-growing plants should not be chosen, but the 
collection made of the smaller species ; nor should 
the charming little ''Solomon's Seal," ''Trienta- 
lis," " Gold-thread," &c., be excluded because they 
are not ferns. The extemporized frames in which 
these are arranged will probably be box-covers, or 
whatever is accessible at the time, and probably, 
too, be covered with birch-bark. A friend who had, 
one autumn, two such stands of ferns and mountain- 
plants, found that, as winter came on, the ferns lost 



no FERA'S IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



their beauty, and the whole became disagreeably 
brown. The boxes were taken out, and placed under 
some shrubbery, where they remained in snow and 
ice till a mild day in February ; when they were 
taken into the house, and thawed out. In March 
the boxes were a mass of beautiful young fern- 
fronds, AriscBinas, Coptis, Smilaciiias, 8lc. The ex- 
posure had somewhat broken the boxes ; but a little 
birch-bark on the outside easily restored their good 
appearance. Whenever our native ferns are grown 
in this way, it must be remembered that they need 
their natural winter's rest. 



CHAPTER XI. 



SPECIAL WAYS OF GROWING FERNS. 

HE ordinary treatment in the greenhouse 
or fernery, under which most plants will 
flourish, will not answer for certain ferns. 
Their special wants must receive particular con- 
sideration. Foremost among -these exceptional 
plants are the " Gold " and " Silver " Ferns. They 
are chiefly species of Gymnogramme, Notholcena 
(PI. 2), Cheilanthes (PI. 6 and 10), and Pellcea 
(PI. 4). Nearly all are ferns which appear to 
have the power of living a part of the time where 
the air is dry. The genera to which the Gold and 
Silver Ferns belong contain also other species 
which have no white or yellow powder upon their 
fronds. Almost all the ferns of the above genera 
can be cultivated in the temperate house, al- 
though some species may seem to flourish better 
in the tropical house ; but, as they prefer less 
moisture overhead than most ferns, the temperate 
house will, on the whole, be the best place for 




112 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



them. They require only the same soil that is 
suitable for other ferns, and must, during their 
season of active growth, receive plenty of water 
at the roots ; but a drop must never touch their 
fronds, as, if sprinkled like others, they will imme- 
diately cease to be gold and silver ferns, and only 
look like poor examples of other species which have 
caught the drippings of the white or yellow wash 
of some fresco-painter. Ferns of this class re- 
quire less shade than most other species, but will 
even thrive under a little direct sunshine, provided 
it be not at noon nor in hot weather. When well 
grown they are very elegant, and are particularly 
adapted to exhibition-purposes. They are not, as 
a rule, good for the fern-case. 

The following list contains many of the best Gold 
and Silver Ferns for cultivation, and also of the 
forms which have no white or yellow powder, but 
belong to the same genera, and require the same 
treatment as the first : ^ — 

I. With Yellow or White Powder, 

Gymnogramme chrysophylla, Kaulf. (Lowe, vol. i., PI. i, 
under G. Martensii). From the West Indies : powder 
yellow ; fr. lo to 20 inches long. 

G. chrysophylla^ var. Laucheana, Hort., is a cultivated variety 
of the last, with powder of a deeper yellow. 

G. Peruviana, Desv. From Tropical America : powder 



1 For all abbreviations used in the lists in this book, see explanation 
following Table of Contents. 




CAMPTOSORUS RHIZOPHYLLUS, LINK. 
(Walking Leaf Fern) 



SPECIAL WAYS OF GROWING FERXS. 113 



white, and covering both the upper and under surface of 
the fronds ; fr. 10-20 inches long, appearing mouse-colored, 

G. ptilchella, Linden (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 74). From Venezue- 
la: powder white; fr. dark green above, 10-30 inches 
long, 12 inches broad, often forking. A beautiful plant. 

G. snlphitrea, Dcsv. (Lowe, vol. i., PI. 5). From the West 
Indies : powder bright yellow; fr. 6-10 inches long. 

G. triangnlaris, Kaidf. (Eaton's Ferns of N. A., to be fig- 
ured : Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 10). From California: powder 
yellow, rarely white ; fr. raised on stalks 3-10 inches long, 
triangular, 1-3 inches wide. This species requires great 
care in cultivation. 

G. calonielanos^ KanJfi. (Hk., Card., F., PI. 30). From the 
West Indies: powder white; fr. 10-30 inches long, 3-8 
inches broad. One of the commonest in cultivation, 

Notholcena 7iivea, Dcsv. (Lowe, vol, i., PI. 19), From 
Mexico, &c. : resembles N. dealbata, PL 2 of this book; 
powder white ; fr, 4-10 inches long. Easily managed. 

N.fiavejis, Moore (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 47). From Central 
America: powder yellow; fr. 6-10 inches long. The 
same as A\ chrysophylla^ Ho?'t. 

Cheilantlies farinosa, Kaulf. (Hk. and G,, Ic. Fil., PI, 134). 
From the tropics : powder white ; fr, 6-15 inches long. 

Adia7ttu7}i S7ilphureji7n, Kaulf. (Lowe, vol. ix., N, and R. F,, 
PI. 61), Hooker considers this to be a variety of A, 
^thiopiciwi, L. From Chili: powder yellow; fr. 6-12 
inches Ions;. Difficult to manao;e. 

•-> o 

II. Fronds without any Powder. 

Gyr7i7iogra77i77ie to7;ie7ttosa, Desv. Fr. 10-20 inches long; 
dark, hairy. 

N'othol(X7ia Newberryi, Eato7i (Eaton's F. of N. A., to be 
figured). From United States: fr. white, woolly, 6-12 
inches long, about 2 inches broad. A charming plant. 



114 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



N. smnaia, Kaulf. (Eaton's F. of N. A., to be figured). 

From New Mexico: fr. 12-30 inches long, scarcely i 

inch broad. Very graceful. 
Cheilanthes myriophylla, Desv., var. elegans (Hk., Sp. Fil., 

vol. ii., PI. 105). From Mexico: fr. 6-12 inches long, 

rusty with scales beneath, finely cut. Very graceful. 
C. hirta, Swartz (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. ii., PL loi). From 

Cape Colony, &c. : fr. 10-20 inches long, dark green, 

glandular. Another form of this fern with broader fronds 

is frequently in cultivation. 
C. Coopo'CE, Eaton (PI. 6, this book). From California. 

Somewhat resembles C. vestita of the Middle States. 
C. laJiKginosa, Ntitt. (PI. 10, this book). From Wisconsin, 

&c. A beautiful fern, but difficult to cultivate. 
C. Calif ornica, Mett. (PI. 12, this book). From California. 

With very finely cut fronds. Difficult to manage. 
C. radiata, R. Br. (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. ii., PI. 91). From 

Tropical America, &c. : fr. on stalks one foot high, the 

pinnae radiating from the top, 8 inches across. A very 

curious plant. 

C. tentiifolia, Swartz (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. ii., PI. 87). From 
the E. Indies : fr. 10-20 inches long. A very beautiful 
species. 

PellcEa dejisa, Hook. (PI. 4, this book). From California. 

Difficult to cultivate. 
P. geranicBfolia, Fee (Hk., ist Cent. Ferns, PI. 85), From 

Tropical America. Fr. with the shape and cutting of a 

rose-geranium leaf. 
P. rotimdifolia, Hook. (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 48). From New 

Zealand: fr. dark green, 8-15 inches long, i inch broad. 

An excellent basket-plant. 
P. ornithopus, Hook. (Eaton's Ferns of N. A., to be figured). 

From California. A stiff plant, but quite interesting, and 

managed with comparative ease. 



SPECIAL WAYS OF GROJVIXG FERXS. 115 



The Hyincnophyllacccs (ferns of the genera Tri- 
cJwmancs and HyinciiopJiylhiiii), and also the Todcas 
(which belong to the Osniundacecu), require greater 
protection than is afforded by the ordinar}- green- 
house. Therefore bell-glasses or cases must be 
arranged for them in some very shady place. The 
cases must be water-proof on the outside, since 
they will unavoidably be frequently wet while 
other plants are being watered, or the drip from 
the roof may fall on them. The earth in the cen 
tre of the case in which these ferns are grown 
should be somewhat raised, and small stones 
added to furnish a support for the little running 
stems to fasten to. Some species of TricJioinancs 
and HyiiiciiopJiyllmn will grow well on the trunks 
of tree-ferns in the tropical house. Todca su- 
pei'ba and T. JiyincnopJiylloidcs are plants beautiful 
beyond description. Without enumerating the 
species of these genera, it is safe to advise simi- 
lar treatment for all, and to say that any species 
are desirable. They all require special care as to 
drainage, and all like a loose, fibrous soil, with 
some sand. As their fronds are only one cell in 
thickness, they are too filmy to expose to any cur- 
rents of air. They prefer to live in a kind of 
steam-bath all the time, unless the earth they are 
in is not too wet. They often succeed well in a 
fernery, if a case can be devoted exclusively to 
them ; and, if you can obtain the plants to fill such 
a case, it is a piece of great good fortune. 



Ii6 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



Ferns in baskets are best adapted to the green- 
house ; although, with care, a few species may be 
made to endure the hving-room. The ferns which 
throw out their fronds from a running stem are 
best suited for basket culture. The one figured 
(PI. 20, Fig. 2) is Davallia bitllata, and has been 
growing, as shown, five years without change, a 
httle new earth being occasionally introduced at 
the top. The best baskets are those made of gal- 
vanized iron wire, with the meshes only sufifici&nt- 
ly fine to support the moss with which the bas- 
ket should be lined before introducing the earth. 
This should be made of coarse peat, sand, and 
loam. The fern may be planted on the top ; and, 
if it is of the proper sort, it will soon find its way 
all over the basket. Sometimes the moss grows 
too, making a most charming foundation of green. 
Baskets may also be made of bark fastened together 
with wire. They can be watered by dipping them 
into the tank or tub, which should always be 
handy in every greenhouse. The wire cylinder 
(PI. 20, Fig. 3) is made of the wire netting used 
for window-protectors, the front of furnace air- 
boxes, &c. It should be galvanized ; and, having 
been shaped into the cylinder, it may be held in 
form by wire. It may be filled like the baskets, 
having been, like them, lined with moss ; or it may 
be filled with peat, sufficiently large pieces being 
used to remain in place, and not sift out through 



SPECIAL WAYS OF GROWING FERNS. I17 



the meshes of the wire. The ferns, when planted 
at the base of the cylinder, will in time find their 
way to the top ; and, when one cylinder is cov- 
ered, another may be added. An erect young 
fern may be planted at the summit, to grow while 
the climbing species are winding their way up- 
ward. 

A very attractive addition to the greenhouse 
may be made by covering the back wall of the 
house with a coarse wire screen, which should be 
about six inches from the wall, the space between 
being filled with coarse peat or other suitable 
material. The front, against the screen, can be 
lined with moss, if desired. On the outside any 
of the basket-ferns, Selaginellas, Begonias, 8ic., 
can be planted. In a short time these will form a 
beautiful background for the plants in the house. 
A screen of this description is in the fern-house 
of Professor C. S. Sargent of Brookline, Mass. It 
is watered by attaching hose to a pipe, which, in 
turn, connects with the gutter at the upper part 
of the house, nearly hidden by the highest plants 
on the frame. This, when filled, allows the water 
to slowly filter down through all the soil, watering 
the whole in the most perfect manner. This ex- 
pensive method may, however, be dispensed with, 
and the sprinkler used instead ; but care must be 
taken to thoroughly do the work. 

One of Shirley Hibberd's most clever sugges- 



Il8 FERA'S IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



tions is the cocoanut-shell hanging-basket (PI. 
1 8, Fig", i). He speaks with truth when he 
says that it requires a sharp saw and some 
patience" to make one. About one-quarter of 
the shell should be sawed off ; and, to bore the 
holes, it is best to use a small "pod" bit first, and 
then a rimer to enlarge them, to avoid splitting the 
shell. The illustration is taken from a cocoanut- 
shell in which AdiantiLin yEthiopiacm has been 
growing for five years ; and the writer had another 
basket of this kind, in which A. affine grew for a 
similar extent of time. These baskets may be 
suspended by the ''silver string of the Spanish 
guitar," or, less expensively, by copper wire. The 
holes should be from one-half to three-quarters of 
an inch in diameter, and may be bored or burned 
out, as one prefers, about an inch apart all over 
the shell, two small ones being made near the 
upper edge for the suspending wire. The fern is 
to be planted as in a flower-pot, only such species 
being chosen as are characterized by underground 
buds (described in the chapter on Structure). 
These buds soon find their way to the holes, and 
appear outside with their little tufts of green. 
These shell baskets are particularly good for the 
creeping species of Adiantiini. 

The following species are suitable for cultiva- 
tion in baskets, hanging-pans, wire cylinders, 
screens, &c. : — 



SPECIAL WAYS OF GROWING FERNS. 1 19 



Adiantu77i affine, Willd. (small). 
A. caudatu7Ji^ Linn. (12 inches high, rooting tips). 
A. colpodes, Moore (14 inches high, graceful). 
A. cmcinnum., H. B. K. (15 inches high, drooping). 
Asplenuun Jlabellifolmin., Cav. (prostrate, rooting tips). 
Caiitptosorus rhizophyllus^ Lifik (PI. 14). 
Davallia 7nembranuiosa, Wall, (rhizome of a reddish 
color). 

D. tmuifolia, Swartz (15 inches high, delicate). 
D.. pallida., Mett. (a beautiful species). 
D. platyphylla, Do7i (a graceful plant). 
D. bullata, Wall. (8 inches high, one of the best). 
Gleiche7iia dicarpa, Br. (12 inches high, delicate). 
G. dichoto77ta^ Willd. (large and strong). 
Polypodiu77i diversifoliu77i, Swartz (curious). 
P. Ii7tgiia, Swartz (stiff, but interesting). 
P. peraissii77i, Cav. (fine when in fruit). 
P. 77ttiscefoliu77i, Blu77ze (very large and fine). 
Pteris scaberzila, Rich, (very delicate). 
The Selagi7iellas also are always useful in this department 
of fern-culture. 



Stumps may be utilized for growing such plants 
as are denominated Epiphytic, and which require 
but little soil. The Stag's-Horn Ferns {Platyce- 
riiim) are well adapted for this mode of culture. 
The plant of P. alcicorne shown in the frontispiece 
has been growing in the same position, without 
change or renewal of earth, for six years. The old 
sterile fronds remain at the base of the plant, and, 
decaying, furnish a sufficient supply of material for 
the fern to continue its growth. P. graride is un- 



I20 FERA^S IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



doubtedly the finest of the genus, and is an excel- 
lent basket-fern. As , soon as the plant is well 
established, the basket should be inverted, and 
hung up in this position : therefore, in planting 
the specimen to be thus treated, care must be 
taken to have the contents of the basket firm. 
These ferns are sometimes grown in especially- 
constructed pots, which may be somewhat scoop- 
shaped, and made to hang against a wall. P. 
alcicorne will do very well in the living-room. PI. 
20, Fig. I, is one of these ferns planted on the 
inner side of a cocoanut-husk, where it grows 
finely. 

A very good way to grow such ferns as Polypo- 
diiLin vacciniifolimn, when it is not convenient to 
have whole tree-trunks for them to climb over, 
is to take the outside slab of a log, and nail to the 
bottom of this a little shelf, on which may be wired 
the pot containing the young plant. A slab about 
three feet long and six inches wide will do. Plants 
treated in this way will soon attach themselves to 
the bark by their creeping stems, and, if often 
sprinkled, will thrive. In the fern-houses of Hon. 
J. W. Merrill of Cambridge, Mass., are many very 
pretty arrangements of this sort. 

By the term " Climbing-Ferns " we might include 
various species of Polypodium and other genera, 
which climb by means of their stems ; which, as 
they grow, attach themselves by their fine roots — 




Plate XV. Home-made Fernery. 



SPECIAL WAYS OF GROWING FERNS. 121 



after the fashion of our common Enghsh ivy — to 
the bark, walls, &c., with which they may come in 
contact. Yet this name has generally been restrict- 
ed to the species of Lygodium, which twine around a 
support like the smilax {Myrsiphyllum asparagoides) 
or the morning-glory {Ipomcsa). One of the finest 
examples of Lygodiuin ever exhibited in Boston 
was a plant of L. scandens, from the collection of 
Mrs. Durant of Wellesley, Mass. It was in a pot 
nearly twenty inches in diameter ; and had evi- 
dently been produced by previously starting several 
plants in small pots, and then planting them out 
around the circumference of the larger one. The 
whole mass of fronds covered a balloon-frame six 
feet in height. Although with care fine specimens 
of this genus may be produced, it not unfrequent- 
ly happens that beginners find the Climbing-Ferns- 
difficult to manage. As for other plants requiring 
special care, good drainage is the first requisite. 
The Japanese Climbing-Fern " {L. scandens) is 
now frequently cultivated in rows by the larger 
dealers, to be cut and sold fresh for decorative 
purposes, instead of smilax; but it wilts sooner 
than the latter, and can never satisfactorily re- 
place it. 

The following are some of the climbing species 
which have been cultivated : — 

Lygodiiun palmatu7n^ Swartz (Eaton's Ferns of N.A., PI. 
i). From Massachusetts to Florida. Hardy; needs loose 
soil ; naturally climbs over bushes and weeds. 



122 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



L. (?) (Beddome, Ferns of So. India, PI. 6i). This 

is the name applied to the species most frequently found 
in cultivation, and which is certainly one of the most 
beautiful, 

L. Japonicuni^ Swartz (Beddome, Ferns of So. India, PI. 64), 

is often confused with the last. 
L. dichotomtivi., Swartz (Hk. and G., Ic. Fil., PL 55), is 

often united with L. Jlexuosum (Beddome, Ferns of So. 

India, PI. 63). The fronds of both these species are large, 

the pinnae being often a foot long. 



CHAPTER XII, 



TREE-FERNS. 




REE-FERNS differ so much in appear- 
ance from their humbler relatives, and 
their cultivation involves so many special 
cares, that we will give them a chapter to them- 
selves. 

In Chapter I. the writer endeavored to show the 
relation between the stem of the Tree-Fern and 
that of ferns of lowlier habit. It remains to speak 
of the difference caused in the growth of the fern 
by this remarkable form of stem, and to explain 
why Tree-Ferns demand a peculiar method of cul- 
tivation. It is only in a large house that they can 
be grown at all ; for although they always begin 
with the minute spore, and pass through the pro- 
thalliLs stage of development, yet, in their native 
haunts, they sometimes reach the height of sixty 
feet from the ground, and have a circle of spread- 
ing fronds one hundred feet in circumference. 

The trunk of a Tree-Fern is formed by the axis 

123 



124 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



of growth being continually elevated ; thus produ- 
cing, as it were, internodes between the fronds. 
It is therefore taller than other fern-stems, for the 
same reason that a hollyhock is taller than a dan- 
delion, although each develops about the same 
number of leaves. This trunk, in growing, forms 
woody tissue very much as do the palms. Woody 
bundles run down from the fronds into the trunk ; 
but the centre is generally filled with pith. As 
the old fronds decay they fall off, leaving each a 
scar on the trunk ; and these scars form odd and 
sometimes graceful markings on the exterior. The 
roots of the Tree-Fern originate, not at the base 
of the trunk as with ordinary trees, but at the base 
of the crown from which the fronds spring, and 
among the petioles of former fronds. So we see 
at once the importance of keeping the trunk con- 
tinually moist, that the new roots may not become 
dry on their way down to the earth. This also 
suggests a resemblance between the trunk of the 
Tree-Fern and the stem of the creeping species; 
and hence, also, the life of the Tree-Fern is chiefly 
concentrated about the crown. If these crowns 
are kept in good order, Tree-Ferns can be trans- 
ported from their native countries without either 
fronds or ground attachment, and packed loosely 
in boxes ; enough vitality remaining for them, 
under careful treatment, to regain their former 
magnificence in a year or two in their new home. 



TREE-FERNS. 



Another quite important service, though a mechan- 
ical one, is performed by the overlapping of roots 
down the trunks of Tree-Ferns. Unlike our for- 
est-trees, the fern does not increase the size of 
its trunk, after it has once formed one, below its 
growing-point ; and hence, as the trunk must thus 
grow larger above, the lower portion of the trunk 
would be the weaker, and would be liable to snap 
in a high wind. The overlapping roots furnish 
the strength required, and enable the plant to 
develop in safety. 

So few Tree-Ferns, in comparison with those 
brought to Europe, are imported into this country, 
that it is seldom known among us how easily they 
may be obtained and transported. In The Fern 
Garden," p. 129, Shirley Hibberd tells us how to 
procure them, and how to treat them afterward : — 

" Let us now suppose that some obliging friend in Aus- 
tralia makes you a present of a lot of Tree-Ferns. He has 
found some specimens with stems from four to five or even 
six feet long. He has cut away all the fronds, and dug them 
up, without taking the trouble of saving any of the roots. 
In fact, they are stems, and nothing more, — stems sans 
fronds, sans roots, sans every thing. He leaves them out 
in the air for a few days to dry, and then packs them witii 
shavings in a box. Let him be especially careful that this 
box be not air-tight : that is their greatest danger. In this 
way they generally come with pretty good success, a large 
majority of them quite safely. And now, as we unpack them, 
let them be placed upright in some close, cool, dark corner : 
under the stage of a greenhouse is as good a place as they 



126 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



can have. Give them a syringing once a day for the first 
week, and after that two or three times a day : never allow 
them to get quite dry. By the end of a fortnight, or even 
sooner, you will observe the points of new roots starting out 
upon the stem, and the closely-coiled-up fronds in the centre 
to be pushing upwards. 

" They may now be safely potted. I have no faith in 
exact prop07'tions for mixing soils ; and my candid opinion 
is, that the mechanical condition of the soil has more influ- 
ence than any thing else. Let it, then, above all things, be 
open and porous. Use pots as small as you can, in the first 
place, and shift them from time to time as the plants may 
require it, using rough peaty soil as before. If allowed to 
become pot-bound, the fronds soon dwindle in size. Keep 
them always moist at the root, and during nine months of 
the year the stem should be kept constantly moist. This 
can easily be done without wetting the fronds much, which 
is not always beneficial. Do not expose your plants to 
draughts of dry air, and be sure to shade them from bright 
sunshine. Following these simple rules, your Tree-Ferns 
will be an ever-increasing source of pleasure." 

Smith, in Ferns, British and Foreign," gives 
the following suggestions regarding the re-potting 
of Tree-Ferns : — 

" When large ferns are to be re-potted, an inverted pot 
should be placed in the new pot, placing a layer of drainage 
around it, the height of the pot to be such that the crocks of 
the old ball (which must not be taken out) rest on top of the 
(inverted) pot. By this means the outer circle of new roots 
are not crushed by the weight of the plant." 

If, in cultivation, a Tree-Fern becomes too tall 
for the house in which it grows, it is possible to re- 



TREE-FERNS. 



127 



duce its height. Select a time when the fronds 
have attained their full growth, and are dormant : 
then cut the trunk off, so that, when the upper 
part is again planted, it will be of the required 
altitude. By careful tending, the fern will, in a 
year or two, be in good order again, and ready to 
continue its growth undisturbed for perhaps twenty 
years. 

Small plants, and occasionally large ones, of 
many of the choice varieties of arborescent ferns, 
may be obtained of the larger plant-dealers in 
this country. 

The Tree-Ferns belong to several genera, and 
have many very near relatives among the low- 
growing species. Thus the Dicksonia antarctica 
(PI. 7), one of the largest among the Tree-Ferns, 
has associated with it in the same genus D. pttnc- 
tilohida, one of our commonest native ferns, with a 
creeping stem, and with the whole plant rarely 
reaching three feet in height. The Blechnum 
Brasiliense {see frontispiece) has among its con- 
geners species which are seldom more than six 
inches high. 

Williams, in "Select Ferns," gives a list of forty 
Tree-Ferns which have been successfully grown in 
the greenhouses of England, so arranged as to 
show the species which require a temperature 
averaging 70° Fah. in summer and 42° in winter, 
and those whose average summer temperature 



128 FERA^S IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



must be 75° and their winter 65°. As these 
plants have so much longer been the subjects 
of experiment in England than in this country, 
we can do no better than to examine this list, a 
portion of which is here given. Among the 
former are 

Alsophila australis, Br., S. America. 

Alsophila Cooperi, Hk., Queensland. 

Alsophila excelsa, Br., Norfolk Island. 

Dickso7iia antarctica, Labill., Australia. 

Dicksonia arborescens, L'Herif., St. Helena. 

Dicksonia fibrosa, Col., New Zealand. 

Dicksonitt lanata, Col., New Zealand. 

Dicksonia sguarrosa, Sw., New Zealand. 

Dickso7iia {Cibotitiin) Baroinetz, Link, China. 

Dickso7iia {Cibotiiim) Mensiesii, Hk., Sandwich Islands. 

Cyathea dealbata, Sw., New Zealand, &c. 

Cyathea ijiedulla7'is, Sw., New Zealand. 

Thyrsopteris elega7is, Kunze, Juan Fernandez. 

Among the latter which require the warmer 
temperature he mentions 

Alsophila aspera, Br., Tropical America. 
Alsophila procera, Katilf., Brazil. 
Alsophila radens, Katilf., Brazil. 
Alsophila pruinata, Kaulf., West Indies. 
Alsophila ferox, Presl {aculeata of some authors), West 
Indies, &c. 

Alsophila arinata, Presl, Tropical America. 
Alsophila glabra, Hk. {gigatitea of some authors). East 
India. 



Plate XVI. 




ASPLENIUM RUTA-MURARIA, L. 
(Wall Rue, Spleenwort.) 



TREE-FERNS. 



129 



Cyathea arborea^ Smithy West Indies. 
Cyathea canaliculata, Willd.^ Mauritius. 
Cyathea excelsa^ Sw.^ Mauritius. 
Cyathea Serra, Willd., West Indies. 
Cyathea sinuata, H. and G.^ Ceylon. 
Heniitelia graiidifolia^ Spr., West Indies. 
Hemitelia horrida^ Br., West Indies. 
Hemitelia Karstejiiajta, Kaulf., Venezuela. 
He7nitelia speciosa, Hk., Tropical America. 

As very few plates give much more than the 
botanical characters of the species, no references 
to figures are given for species of Tree-Ferns. 

Blechnum Brasiliense, illustrated in the frontis- 
piece, is an excellent fern for a small house. Al- 
though old plants form quite tall stems, it is rarely 
seen more than six feet high. Lomaria gibba and 
L. ciliata are very beautiful ferns. They form 
small stems one to two feet high, and spread fif- 
teen to thirty inches across the top. They are 
likely to be attacked by thrips if kept in too warm 
a place. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



GOOD FERNS FOR CULTIVATION. 

HIS chapter contains lists of ferns suitable 



for cultivation in the tropical and temper- 



^f^^ ate houses and the fern-case. References 
to published figures, and brief hints at the char- 
acter of these ferns, are added. The size of the 
plants is also given, that selections may be made 
for fern-cases, according to their dimensions or the 
owner's fancy. It is, however, to be noted, that 
no hard-and-fast line can always be drawn between 
plants for the two houses, as many species will 
flourish in either. 

Good Ferns for the Tropical House. 

Adiantiim amabile, Hort. (Gardener's Chronicle, 1868). 
Seems to be A. Moorei, Baker^ S. America. Fr. 10-20 
inches long. 

A. caudatuin, Linn. (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 104). Fr. 8-18 inches 
long, 1-2 inches broad, often rooting at the tip. 

A. concinnuni^ H. B. K. (Lowe, B. and E. Ferns, vol. iii., PI. 
i). Tropical America. Fr. 12-20 inches long, 6-9 inches 




130 



GOOD FERNS FOR CULTIVATION. 



broad. Another form of this beautiful fern is the var. 
latum. 

A. Farley ense^ Hort.^ "appears to be an abnormal form of 
A. tenenun^ Sw., of garden origin." It is undoubtedly, 
when well grown, one of the most magnificent of Adiaii- 
tunis^ perhaps of any of the lower-growing ferns. It 
never bears fruit. ]\Ir. Such, of South Amboy, N.J., 
had in 1875 plants of this fern three feet in diameter. 

A. macrophylhu7i, Sw. (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 55, and H. and G., 
PL 132). Fr. 12-30 inches long, 4-8 inches broad. The 
segments are large, and the color of the 3-oung fronds is 
a beautiful pink. 

A. Periiviamim., Klotzsch (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. ii., PI. 81, C). 
Fr. and segments large. 

A. SanctcB Catherines^ Hoi^t.^ does not very much differ from 
A. trapeziforme., Linn.., of which it is a variety. 

A. vehitinuni, Moore (Gard. Chron., 1866). Fr. 18-24 inches 
long, io-;5 inches broad. A fine fern. 

Angiopteris evecta Hoffin. (H. and G., PI. 36, and Flk., Fil. 
Ex., PI. 75). A very interesting but large and coarse 
fern, belonging to the sub-order MarattiaceeB of Hk., 
plants of which order are, on account of their peculiar 
mode of fruiting and growth, considered by Sachs as 
pseudo-ferns. 

Aspleniiun Belangeri, Ktinze (Beddome, Ferns of British 
India, PI. 287). Malayan Peninsula, &c. Fr. 12-18 inches 
long, erect, graceful. 

A. eicutarinm., Sw. (Lowe, vol. v., PI. 20). Tropical America. 
Fr. 12-18 inches long, 4-6 broad. A delicate and beau- 
tiful fern. 

A. fonnositm, Willd. (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 16). Tropical Amer- 
ica. A delicate fern, with fr. 6-12 inches long, and i inch 
broad. 

A. Zeylanieum, Hk. (Hk., 2d Cent, of F., PL 16). Fr. 6-12 



132 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



inches long, 1-2 inches broad. A fine-growing species 
for a large pan. 

A. nidus, Z., has several names (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 88, under 
A. australasiciun, Hk.). South tropics. A noble fern, 
with simple fronds, which, when well grown, are some- 
times 6 feet long. The plant resembles an Agave. 

A.fiacciditm^ Forst. (Lowe, vol. v., PI. 19). New Zealand. 
Fr. 1-3 feet long, 6-12 inches broad. Graceful, drooping. 

A.fiabellifolhun, Cav. (Hk., Ex. Flo., vol. iii., PI. 208). A 
delicate, prostrate species. Fr. i foot long, i inch broad, 
rooting at the tip. 

Aspidium lase?'Pitiifoliiiin, Mett. (Beddome, F. S. I., PI. 225). 
Japan and India. Fr. 12-18 inches long, 6-9 inches 
broad. A very interesting species. 

Acrostichu77i attreum, L. (Beddome's F. S. I., PI. 204). The 
plant resembles a salix of young and rapid growth. When 
placed in a pan or tub of water, the fronds will become 6 
feet long. 

A. crinitiim, L. (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 6). A strange-looking 
plant, resembhng a Begonia more than a fern. Fr. simple, 
6-12 inches long, 6 inches broad, very thickly covered 
with glandular hairs. 

Blechniun Lanceola, Sw. (Hk., ist Cent. F., PI. 70). Tropi- 
cal America. Fr. 2-12 inches long, \-\ inch broad. 

Davallia dissecta, J. Svi. (Moore, Gard. Chron., 1855). 
Java. Fr. 12-18 inches long, 8-10 inches broad. Delicate. 

D. platyphylla, Don (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 19). Fr. 1-3 feet 
long, I foot broad. 

D. pedata, S7iiith (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. i., PI. 54). Japan, &c. 
Fr. 2-6 inches long, 1-2 inches broad. 

Gleichenia dichotouia, Willd. (Beddome's F. S. I., PI. 74). 
Fr. forking, almost climbing. A good plant for a large 
basket. Not very graceful. Others of the genus are 
cultivated, but are quite difficult to manage. 



GOOD FERNS FOR CULTIVATION. 



Lomaria fluviatilis^ Spreng. A spreading fern. Fr. 6-18 
inches long, 2 inches broad. 

Meniscium swiplex^ Hk. (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 83). Fr. 6-9 
inches long, 2-3 broad, simple. A curious fern. 

Nephrolepis exaltata, Schott (Eaton's Ferns of N. A., to be 
figured). A native of Florida; grows pendent from old 
trees. Very beautiful. 

N. davallioides^ v2iX. furcans, Hort. A beautiful fern, resem- 
bling the last. Each of the pinnae are forked. There is 
a fine specimen at the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge, 
Mass. 

Olea7idra neriiformis^ Cav. (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 58). Many 
species in cultivation are probably forms of this. Fr. 
6-18 inches long, i inch broad. 

Polypodium inuscsfolium^ Bhuiie (Beddome, F. B. I., PI. 
317). Fr. 1-3 feet long, 2-4 inches broad. A fine fern 
for large pans or baskets. The veins are much reticu- 
lated. 

P. aureuin^ L. (Eaton's Ferns of N. A., to be figured). A 

large fern, with the fruiting very conspicuous. 
P. conjugatum^ LaiJi. (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 91). Fr. 2-4 feet 

long, I foot broad, from a very thick caudex, and curiously 

winged at the base. 
P. irioides, Lajn. (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 4). Fr. 1-3 feet long, 

1-3 inches broad, very leathery. The plant resembles 

Phyllocactus latifrons. 
P. pectmatum, L. (Hk., Gard. F., PI. 10). Fr. 12-30 inches 

long, 1-3 inches broad. Resembles somewhat the next. 
P. plumula^H. B. K. (Eaton's Ferns of N. A , to be figured). 

Plooker considers this a form of P. taxifoliuin., L. 
Pteris pabnata, Willd. (Hk., Gard. F., PI. 22), has several 

names, among which are Dory opteris palmata^ Pteris pe- 

datoides, &c. The fronds are, as the name signifies, pal- 

mately divided. Stalks one foot high. 



134 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



Pt. tricolor, Hart. (Bot. Mag., PI. 5,183), (Lowe, vol. ix., N. 

and R. F., PI. 9, under Pt. aspericaulis., var. tricolor), and 
Pt. argyrea, Hort. (Lowe, vol. ix., N. and R. F., PI. 10), are 

varieties of Pt. quadriaurita^ Retz. The latter is a very 

fine large-growing plant ; the former, smaller, and much 

more difficult to manage. 

Good Ferns for tJie Temperate House. 

Adiantiim jEthiopictwi, L. (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. ii., PI. 77, 
A). Fr. 12-18 inches long. A graceful, delicate fern, 
particularly good for baskets. A. assi?nile, Sw. (Lowe, 
vol. iii., PI. 8), is probably a var. of this species. 

A. affine, Willd. (Lowe, vol. iii., PI. 7), New Zealand only. 
A very pretty low-growing species. Another form is A. 
Ciuininghami, Hk. (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. ii., PI. 86, A). 

A. Capillus -Veneris, L., figured in every work on British 
ferns, and native of Europe and the Southern United 
States, is another charming low fern. 

A. Chilcnse, Klf. (Eaton's Ferns of N. A., to be figured), 
of California, Hooker considers to be only a var. of A. 
jEthiopicitm, L. It seems, however, in cultivation, to re- 
semble more generally the preceding species. 

A. colpodes, Moore (Card. Chron., 1865), resembles A. co?i- 
cinniim, H. B. K. Fr. 12-18 inches long. 

A. ciineatuut, L. and F. (H and G., PI. 30). 

A. formos2im, R. Br. (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. ii., PI. 86, B). 
Australia, &c. Fronds raised on long stalks, resembling 
somewhat A. pedatiun, L. 

A. liispididuni, Sw. (Lowe, vol. iii., PL 9, under the name 
oi A. pubesceiis, Schkuhr). Asia. Y{.2kAt oi A. formostun, 
R. Br. 

A. fulvtim, Raoiil (Lowe, vol. iii., PI. 19, Hk., Sp. Fil., 
PI. 85, A). Resembles last, but smaller. Young fronds 
a reddish color. 



GOOD FERNS FOR CULTIVATION. 



135 



A. reniforme^ L. (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. ii., PI. 71, A; and Hk., 
FiL Ex., PI. 8). A curious fern, the fronds being kidney- 
shaped, with a stalk 3-6 inches long. 

Aneimia adiantifolia, Sw. (Eaton's Ferns of N. A., PL 14). 
Florida, &c. This and the next have fronds 10-15 inches 
long, the fertile segments being raised on separate stalks 
from the base of the fronds. 

A. Phy nitidis, Sw. (Lowe, vol. viii., PL 71). Resembles 
A. Mexicana, Klotzsch (fig. Eaton's Ferns of N. A., PL 
14), but the veins anastosmose in the former, while in the 
latter they are free. 

Aspleniu7n alternans, Wall. (Beddome, F. B. I., PL 59). Fr. 
6-12 inches long, 1-2 inches broad. 

A. bidbiferum, Forst. (Beddome, F. B. I., PL 65). Fr. 12- 
30 inches long, 6-12 inches broad. Graceful, bearing 
little plants all. over the upper portion of the fronds. 

A. moitanthe7nuin, L. (A. Menziesii, H. and G., PL 100). 
Fr. 12-18 inches long, i inch broad. 

A. resectum. Smith (H. and G., PL 114). Fr. 8-12 inches 
long, 2-4 inches broad. 

A. gorijtgiamuit pictuin, Horf., is probably a var. of A. 
macrocarpiun, Bluine. The fronds resemble Aspidium 
spinulosunt somewhat, and are variegated. A very pretty 
fern. 

Blechnu77t occide7itale, L. (Lowe, vol. iv., PL 39). Fr. 8-12 
inches long, 1-2 inches broad. ' 

B. unilaterale, Willd. (Lowe, vol. iv., PL 34, under B. poly- 
podioides)^ resembles the last. 

Aspidiu77i falcatuifiy Sw. (Hk., Fil. Ex., PL 92), Japan, &c., 
Cyrt077iiu77t falcatu77i, A. caryotide7l77i., and A. Forti/nii,2Lre 
different names for forms of this fern. Fr. 12-30 inches 
long, 4-8 inches broad, segments large, upper portion a 
glossy green. This species is sometimes cultivated out 
of doors in En Poland. 



# 



136 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



Davallia bullata, Wall. (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. i., PI. 50). Fr. 
4-8 inches long, 3-4 inches broad, much cut. An admi- 
rable basket-fern, and is figured in PI. 20 of this book. 

D. Canariensis, Smith (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. i., PI. 56). Fr. 
triangular, much cut, darker green than last. This is 
sometimes called the Hare's-Foot Fern. In Shirley Hib- 
berd's " Fern Garden," p. 109, there is an excellent figure 
of a plant of this species. 

D. Mooreana, Hort. (Gard. Chron., 1855). Probably a var. 
of D. pallida., Mett. Fr. 2-3 feet long, i foot broad, very 
delicate and drooping, light green. An excellent exhibi- 
tion fern. 

D. temiifolia, Sw. (Beddome, F. S. I., PI. 16). Fr. 12-20 

inches long, 6 inches broad, much cut. 
Doodia aspera^ R. Br. (Lowe, vol. iv., PI. 30). Fr. 8-12 

inches long, 1-2 inches broad, rigid. 
D. catcdata, R. Br. (Lowe, vol. iv., PI. 31). Fr. narrower 

than the last ; habit similar. 
Lomaria ciliala, Labill. (Gard. Chron., 1866), and L. gibba^ 

Labill. (see frontispiece), are little Tree-Ferns, having 

stems a foot high, surmounted by a crown of fronds 

eighteen inches in diameter. Both are easily cultivated, 

and are desirable ferns. 
Mohria caffrorum, Desv. (Lowe, vol. ix., N. and R. F., PI. 42, 

under M. thurifraga^ var. achillcFfolid). Fr. very much 

cut. A very pretty plant. 
Nephroditiin decompositiwi {Aspid. actunitiaitcfn, Lowe, vol. 

vi., PI. II), i'?. Br. Australia, &c. Fr. 18-30 inches long, 

6-12 inches broad. 
N. unitum, R. Br. (Eaton's Ferns of N. A., PI. 13, under 

Aspidiicm unitum, var. glabrwn). Fr. 1-3 feet long, 6-10 

inches broad. 

N. molle, Desv. (Beddome, F. S. L, PI. 84). Fr. 1-3 feet 
long, 6-8 inches broad. Common in greenhouse culture. 



• 



Plate XVII. Fernery, with Base of Black Stoneware. 



GOOD FERNS FOR CULTIVATION. 137 



N. patens^ Desv. (Eaton's Ferns of N. A., to be figured), 

resembles the last. 
N. setigeriuit^ Baker (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. iv., PI. 269, under 

N. tenericaule). A very rank-growing fern, with delicate 

fronds two feet or more long. 
Onychhun Japojiicuin, Kuiize (Beddome, F. B. I., PI. 21, 

under O. liicidMm, Spr.). A very hnely-cut fern, with fr. 

1-2 feet long, 6 inches broad. 
Pell(za andro7nedcnfolia, Fee (Eaton's Ferns of N. A., to 

be figured). Although difficult at first to manage, this 

will in time make a very handsome plant. 
P. hastata^ Link (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 50). Fr. 1-2 feet long, 

6-10 inches broad. Dark green, with black stalks. Sev- 
eral varieties of this species are in cultivation. 
P. iiitrama7'ginalis, J. S7nith (Hk., 2d Cent. F., PI. 62, 

under anothername). Fr. 8-15 inches long, 2-4 inches 

broad. 

P. teituifiolia, Fee (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 15). Resembles last in 
habit, but not in cutting. 

P. rotundifolia, Hk. (Hk., Fil. Ex., PI. 48). Fr. 1-2 feet 
long, I inch broad, with pinnse circular. Dark green. 

Pteris scaberula, Richard (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. ii., PI. 93, A), 
New Zealand. Fr. 8-12 inches long, 3-6 inches broad, 
very finely cut. A most charming fern. Should be 
planted in a shallow pan. 

Pt. serrulata, L. (Lowe, vol. iii., PI. 40). One of the common- 
est ferns in cultivation, a weed in many greenhouses, yet 
very pretty. 

Pt. tremula, R. Bi\ (Hk., Sp. Fil., vol. ii., PI. 120, B). Fr. 

1-3 feet long, i foot broad. A handsome species. 
Pt. Cretica, var. albo-lineata, Hort. (Lowe, vol. ix., N. and 

R. F., PI. 25). Fr. I foot or more long, divided into 

ribbon-hke pinnee which have a white stripe in the centre. 
Pt. se77tipi7i7iata, L. (Hk., Gard. F., PI. 59). Fr. 15-20 

inches long, 6-9 inches broad. An erect species. 



138 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



PolypodiitDi subauriculatiuii^ B/ums (Beddome, F. B. I., PL 
78). A large-growing species. 

Woodwardia Japonica., Sw.; W. radicajts, Smith j W. ori- 
entalise Sw., — are all fine large ferns, and very beautiful 
in cultivation. W. 7'adicans will be figured in Eaton's 
" Ferns of North America." 




CHAPTER XIV. 



HOW TO PROPAGATE FERNS. 



N this chapter we arc to consider how to 
multiply our ferns. It may be done in 
three different ways, — {a) by growing 
them from spores, {b) by dividing the larger 
plants, {c) by propagating the buds, which, as we 
have previously seen, are formed upon certain 
species. If we are so fortunate as to possess a 
greenhouse, or, still better, if a friend will allow 
us a corner of his, we can produce ferns to our 
heart's content ; but, if we depend upon our win- 
dow or out-door garden, we shall be likely to fall 
short of the success which a greenhouse will 
insure. 

In the chapter on Structure it was mentioned 
that the fronds of many species of ferns spring 
from underground stems which creep about either 
directly upon the surface or at some distance 
beneath it, and that the roots were produced 
directly from this stem also. Now, supposing 

139 



I40 FERNS nv THEIR HOMES AXD OURS. 



that we have a plant of this habit, — a Polypodiiim 
or Pteris, for instance, — all that it is necessary 
to do to make two or more plants of the one is to 
divide this stem, between the buds or fronds on 
it, into as many parts as we desire new ferns. 
We remove it from the pot if it is a greenhouse 
specimxcn, or scrape the earth from around it if 
it is planted out, and observe where these under- 
ground stems are, and how the fronds which spring 
from them are grouped. With a moderately sharp 
knife we may now cut the stems, without disturb- 
ing the earth about the plant any more than is 
absolutely necessary, tearing apart with our hands 
the uncut remaiiider of the roots. We put each 
part of the plant thus divided into a pot just 
large enough to hold it easily, and press the earth 
in firmly around it, having previously placed in 
the bottom of the pot the necessary drainage 
material. For a week or ten days the newly- 
separated plants should be kept moist, not wet, 
and in a quiet shade : if out of doors, protected 
by a frame and sash, and somewhat shaded ; if in 
the greenhouse, in some shady corner. A case 
not intended for a fernery, capable of being closed 
and yet sufficiently light, 3 by 2 feet, and 18 inches 
high, is a very handy thing for in or out door use 
at this time. When we think that our plants have 
sufficiently recovered from the shock of being 
thus torn asunder, they may be placed with the 



HOW TO PROPAGATE FERNS. 141 



Other ferns in the collection. If the fern to be 
divided is one of the hardy species in the out-door 
fernery, this process should not be attempted* ex- 
cept during the resting period, either early in the 
spring, or late in the fall. The former time is to 
be preferred. Indeed, it is never judicious to 
meddle with plants when actually growing ; al- 
though, even at such times, a shift " or division 
may be compulsory. It must always be managed 
with great care. 

Other ferns, as Adianhun^ Strut kiopteris, and 
Woodwardia, have underground stems, but produce 
their fronds in little tufts at the ends of these. In 
Adiantum the stems do not wander far, and may 
be easily discovered by removing for examination 
almost any species of this genus from its pot 
when it seems to be ready for removal to a larger 
one. The stems are lighter in color than the 
roots, and have a few fronds coiled up closely at 
their ends. It is this habit which renders the 
Adiantum so desirable for a basket-fern, particu- 
larly for the cocoanut-shell referred to elsewhere. 
In the case of the Ostrich Fern iStmthiopteris), 
these underground stems are always a source of 
great astonishment. They frequently creep away 
to a distance of four or five feet before re-ap- 
pearing, and then quietly throw up their vase-like 
forms where they are, perhaps, least expected. A 
iDlant in the writer's collection made its way under 



142 FERiVS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



a tight board fence, and delighted a neighbor, who, 
thinking it something planted and forgotten, could 
not' recall to mind where she had obtained so 
charming a fern. Ferns of the habit of the 
StnUhiopteris are readily removed at almost any 
time. The principal roots are near the crown, 
which can be dug up with a ball of earth around 
it, and cut free of the long running stem. 

Of course it will be seen that it will be useless 
to divide any of those ferns which, like most 
AspidiiLms and Tree-Ferns, produce their fronds 
from a sinsfle crown, and do not form undero-round 
stems. To increase our number of these, we 
must depend upon raising the plants from spores. 
Yet many species, which apparently spring thus 
from crowns, are in the habit of increasing the 
number of these crowns around the first. This is 
only another form of the underground stem, al- 
though here it is extremely short. Plants of this 
description, Scolopendrium vidgare^ ?>omQ Aspidmms 
and AspleniiLins, and the smaller BlecJimims, may 
be laid down on their sides, cut through with the 
trowel or knife, and treated as before recommended. 
Some ferns move away from the place at which they 
started, as does our common garden Solomon's-seal, 
by the stem of the last year decaying as the new 
stem grows forward. Potted ferns of this habit 
will in a few years be found on one side of the pot ; 
or perhaps, if in a very large pot, the fronds will 



HOJV TO PROPAGATE FEPAS. 



143 



be flourishing around the edge, while the centre is 
left empty. With greenhouse ferns, careful re- 
potting will remedy this; but in the case of the 
out-door plants, as Oiwclca, it is best to let them 
have their own way. One curious fact comes to 
the observation of every one who has much to do 
with growing ferns, and the same is noticed by 
several authors, — the ferns which are most readily 
increased by stem-division are not freely produced 
from spores, while the ferns most easily raised from 
spores can seldom be divided when fully grown. 
There are exceptions, of course, to this statement ; 
but its general truthfulness is very apparent to all 
fern-cultivators. 

It is very easy to raise ferns from buds. A 
portion of a frond of Asplcniurd biilbifejicm, or any 
fern on which the little plants have made their 
appearance, may be fastened down upon a pan of 
firm porous soil, and a little sand — not enough to 
cover the bulbs — be sifted over it. It should be 
protected by a glass : a pane of common window- 
glass laid over the pot will do, if sufficient space 
has been left, as it should be, when filling the pan, 
to allow the little ferns to develop two or three 
fronds. In the course of a few weeks the plants 
will probably have rooted, and may be separated by 
cutting the old frond into pieces wherever a bud 
has started, and putting each piece into a small 
pot by itself. 



144 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



A great many methods are given for raising 
ferns from spores. Of course the spores of all 
species requiring tropical heat must be kept in 
the propagating-house, or in some place where the 
pans in which the spores have been planted will 
receive bottom heat or its equivalent. The spores 
may be sifted on the earth directly from the fronds, 
or from papers on which they may previously have 
been collected. It is generally desirable that they 
should be fresh, although the spores of many 
species are supposed to retain their vitality for a 
long time. M. C. Cooke, in his "Fern-Book for 
Everybody," states that "a lady friend prefers for 
cultivation spores two or three years old, as she 
thinks they germinate better." This is a very 
strange statement, and is not found to be generally 
confirmed by writers on this subject. Whether 
the spores are sown in the greenhouse, tropical 
house, or in frames out of doors, the soil should be 
quite firm, well drained, and have more or less of 
the smaller bits of the broken pots used for drain- 
age mixed with the upper earth. The pots, pans, 
boxes, or whatever receptacles are to serve as 
nurseries for the sporelings, need not be very 
deep, as only about one inch of soil will be required. 
The remainder of the space should be well filled 
with fragments of broken pots for drainage. The 
soil should be equal parts of fine peat or meadow- 
mould, and fine sand. When this is arranged, and 





Plate XVIII. 

I. Cocoanut-basket. 
2. Japanese stand. 3. Russian stand. 



HOW TO PROPAGATE FERNS. 



145 



the earth watered, the spores may be sprinkled 
over the surface. The whole should then be 
covered with a bell-glass (PI. 8, Fig. i), or, if there 
should be room for the young plants, with a pane 
of window-glass (PI. 8, Fig. 2). Some large culti- 
vators prefer to have the pans placed in a special 
case, with a sash to close it within a few inches of 
the pans ; thus saving the trouble of removing so 
many glasses when examining the young plants. 

For the hardy species, a frame out of doors, in 
summer, will answer very well ; but, as it is much 
easier to obtain plants already grown from the 
fields and woods, it will seldom be worth the while 
to raise any such species from spores. 

The pans must be kept moist, but never watered 
from the top, as this will surely wash away the 
spores. The best way is to stand the pans in a 
shallow dish of water, and allow the supply to be 
drawn up as required. 

Smith states that the spores of some ferns will 
not germinate till eighteen months after they are 
sown, while those of some species of Gymno- 
gramme and Cheilaitthes appear in a few days. In 
due time, generally a few weeks after the sowing 
of the spores, the prothalli of the future ferns may 
be seen, covering the earth, as it were, with a green 
mould. In a short time the true fronds will be 
developed. Some ferns grow very rapidly, — As- 
pidium molley for example, making plants twelve 



146 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



inches high, in eight months, from the spores ; 
but, as a general rule, it will be two or three years 
before ferns so grown will require an eight-inch 
pot. In a moist greenhouse where many ferns 
lare cultivated, the spores, as they ripen upon the 
fronds and are discharged into the air, are likely 
to fall upon the surface of the pots in which other 
plants are growing, or upon the shelves, benches, 
walls, or floor of the house. One of the most 
interesting things connected with fern -culture is 
the pleasure derived from watching these waifs as 
they develop ; yet with it come the usual vexations 
which follow plant-cultivation everywhere. These 
same spores, which germinate so freely when 
chance-sown, are sure to intrude themselves where 
we have prepared with special care a pan to cul- 
tivate some choice species of fern, of which we 
have obtained the precious seed. In this way 
it happens often that plants of Gymjtogramme 
chrysophylla and Pteris serriilata will occupy such 
a pan, and crowd out every thing else ; and, as 
all the young plants are to the inexperienced eye 
very much alike, to try weeding out the intruders 
may result in the summary destruction of the 
choicer ferns. 

In growing ferns from spores, the directions 
regarding boiling or baking the soil should be 
more strictly observed than in any other depart- 
ment of fern-culture ; as we soon realize the im- 



HOW TO PROPAGATE FERNS. 



147 



portance of having our pans, in which spores are to 
be sown, absolutely free from all other germs of 
plant or insect life. A very neat way of raising 
sporelings is recommended by Mr. M. C. Cooke, 
who states that it is derived from German botan- 
ists. A piece of firm peat a few inches high is 
soaked in boiling water to kill any life that may 
be in it, and, when cool, placed on end in a 
saucer. On this the spores are sown, and a bell- 
glass placed over it. Water can be supplied by 
pouring it into the saucer as it is absorbed by the 
block of peat. To raise prothalli for microscopic 
examination, bits of broken pots, on whose moist- 
ened surfaces the spores are encouraged to germi- 
nate, will be found excellent, as the prothalli can 
be scraped away unmixed with particles of earth, 
and be brought clean to the lens. 

In English greenhouses several ferns have been 
known to appear, whose origin it is impossible even 
to conjecture. Lomaria Patersoni^ a Tasmanian 
species, sprang up at Kew in 1830, and Doodia 
blechnoides in 1835 ; and of these species it was 
supposed that not a single example was in culti- 
vation in England, and that of the former only 
one herbarium specimen — the only one in the 
kingdom — was safely packed away in the British 
Museum. Nephrodium setigenim appeared in the 
greenhouse of a gentleman in Salem, when it was 
known that there was not a plant of that species 



148 FERA^S IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



within twenty miles ; and the writer has a fine 
specimen of Asplenhcm pinnatifidiun which grew 
in a pan of TricJiomanes Pete7'sii, the plants in 
which came by mail from Alabama, and had been 
growing a year before the AspleniiLin made its 
appearance. Of course packing-material, or, in- 
deed, the leaves of plants received by any means 
of transportation, doubtless contain invisibly the 
spores of many ferns new to the region to wliich 
the plants are sent. 



CHAPTER XV. 



OTHER CRYPTOGAMS IN CULTIVATION. 




HE structure and cultivation of ferns alone 
have thus far been discussed, except that 
in Chapter H. sufficient mention has been 
made of other plants to indicate the place of ferns 
in a general system of classification. Even now 
we can only speak briefly of such other Crypto- 
gams as are or may be cultivated, dismissing with 
a word the rest which cannot be taken from their 
native habitats. - 

If we turn to the table at p. 53 we may com- 
mence with the lowest groups, and follow up the 
arrangement to the Lycopods^ the highest of all 
cryptogamous plants. 

The AlgcB are a very important family in nature, 
but, outside of a few aquaria, are seldom met with 
in cultivation. The smaller marine species are 
much sought for to arrange in collections of taste 
and to study scientifically ; and the Diatoms, among 
the humblest of plants, are the subject of profound 

149 



150 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



investigation by microscopists, who use their sili- 
cious cases as test-objects for high-power objec- 
tives. 

The parallel group of Fungi is generally very 
uninteresting as presenting objects for collection, 
although much investigated by patient scientists. 
Many species among the larger ones are edible ; 
and the mushroom {Agancus campestris) is fre- 
quently seen at horticultural exhibitions, though 
it is seldom that this excellent vegetable reaches 
the suburban markets. Old specimens of Polypo- 
nis, the shelf-like, woody fungus which grows 
upon old trees, may be easily converted into a 
bracket upon which to place a pot-plant or a vase. 

The Lichens are very tempting to collectors, 
in the hope that they may be made to flourish in 
the fernery; but they soon mould, and spread 
trouble among the ferns. One of the most beau- 
tiful, the EvcTuia vulpina of California, is a fine 
object to use for house decoration in company 
with the Tillaiidsia, and, like most of the pendent 
Lichens^ may be washed when dusty. 

Of the CharacecB many species may be found 
in ponds and rivers, sometimes growing in quite 
deep, but more frequently in shallow water. Some 
have a very unpleasant smell, resembling sulphu- 
retted hydrogen, when first collected ; and some are 
covered by a deposit of carbonate or phosphate 
of lime, which is secreted by the plant, and hence 



OTHER CRYPTOGAMS IN CULTIVATION. 15 1 



considered by botanists as analogous to the sili- 
cious particles in the stem of EquisettLin. The 
Ckaras and Nitellas may be kept a long time in 
water with a little earth at the bottom, and are 
very interesting. Their large cells, under the 
microscope, are excellent objects to illustrate the 
rotation or circulation of the protoplasm. Ckaras 
are reproduced in two ways, — by an oosphere after 
fertilization, or by bulblets analogous to the buds 
of other plants. Charles Johnson, Esq., in " Ferns 
of Great Britain," London, 1859 (almost the only 
English work illustrating the common species of 
Chara and Nitella), says, ''Young plants may be 
easily raised of all the species." He had grown 
many, especially C. aspera, himself. Later works 
than this, however, should be consulted for the 
structure and development of these plants. 

Among the Hepaticcs the Marchantia is very 
interestiiig in cultivation ; and on the trunks of 
trees, and creeping over rocks, will be found many 
species of Fridlania, yungermannia, Madotheca, 
Ptilidium, &c., many of them in appearance re- 
sembling the Lichens, for which they are offcn 
mistaken by young botanists. Of course these 
plants only come into our collection as accessories 
to the ferns ; but they will repay our attention and 
care. 

Of the growth and development of the Mosses 
much might be said. In the out-door fernery they 



152 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



are useful to assist in keeping moist the earth 
about the ferns, and to hide the bare surfaces 
of rocks. For the fern-case they are not to 
be strongly recommended : they harbor insects 
which will devour the young fern-fronds as they 
unroll. But in the open fernery, or out of doors, 
they can be made of inestimable service, and add 
much to the appearance of the collection. If 
grown by themselves during the winter in a shal- 
low glazed case, they are very interesting. The 
writer once had a mossery instead of a fernery ; 
and with care taken to keep it cool, and give it 
enough ventilation, the plants were in excellent 
condition the season through, both growing well, 
and fruiting. Many of the larger species of Hyp- 
num are beautiful, and the close-growing species 
of the same genus are valuable for a lining to 
hold the earth in place in the wire baskets for 
hanging plants. The PolytricJiiLms and Dicraniims 
of the larger mosses, and Bryums, Mnmins, and 
Atrichitms of the small ones, can be used in the 
out-door fernery among the rocks and ferns. The 
Sphagmmi (bog-moss) is always in demand with 
the gardener, on account of its usefulness in pack- 
ing plants for transportation, and the many ways 
in which he can turn its spongy structure to 
account in his business. A very pretty fashion of 
European origin has recently come to prevail at 
horticultural exhibitions in Boston. Instead of 




LUNARIA, SWARTZ BOTRYCHIUM BOREALE, MiLDE. 



OTHER CRYPTOGAMS IN CULTIVATION. 153 



displaying choice roses, rhododendrons, &c., in 
bottles inserted in wooden frames, cases are pre- 
pared four feet by eighteen inches, with a depth of 
eight inches at the back, and four in front. The 
whole surface being evenly covered with moss, 
a certain number of tin cups are sunk in it, and 
hidden beneath the moss ; and in these the flowers 
are arranged with an effect impossible to attain 
with the old wooden stands. 

This brings us, in the table, to the ferns ; and, 
passing them, we ascend the scale above. 

Among the Equisetums, the common species, E. 
arvense, may be successfully cultivated in moist 
soil. The finest of all is the Wood Horse-Tail," 
E. sylvaticum. Shirley Hibberd, in ''The Fern 
Garden," speaks most enthusiastically of this spe- 
cies : " If the reader can imagine a nine-inch pot 
with about fifty of these stems crowded together 
in it, all of them arching over with exquisite grace 
like the feathers from the tails of birds-of-para- 
dise, the color the most tender shade of emerald 
green, no apology will be needed for calling atten- 
tion to it in these pages ; for it is, in fact, one of the 
most desirable plants for the fern garden." With 
us this species is common at the North, and is 
certainly a most graceful plant. Another, the 

Scouring Rush," E. hyemale, is an attractive and 
curious example, growing in situations similar to 
those chosen by Pteris aquilina. 



154 FERN'S IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



In Chapter II. it was noted that the Ophioglos- 
sacecB had been found so to differ from the true 
ferns, that they were now placed apart from these, 
and considered only as fern allies. Of these 
forms, O. viUgatiLin can seldom be kept under 
cultivation longer than two years. Of the South- 
ern Ophioglossicms little or nothing can be said. 
BotiycJiiiLiii VirgiiiianiLin is by far the most grace- 
ful of all, and the most easily cultivated. The 
fronds of this perfect themselves in June, while 
the various forms of B. tcrnatiun do not appear at 
all till August. The Botrychiums require a deep, 
firm soil, and do not bear disturbance very well. 
They usually grow in damp places ; but varieties 
of B. ternatiim and some of the smaller species 
are frequently found on high pasture-land. Little 
can be said of the minor forms ; but probably they 
cannot be cultivated with much success. 

Among the Rhizocarps, Marsilea qiiadrifolia is 
frequent in cultivation near Boston. It is a pretty 
little plant, growing in rather shallow water. The 
leaves, which resemble those of an Oxalis, float 
upon the surface, while the large spore-cases are 
borne along the creeping stems at the bottom. 
The plant spreads so rapidly, that, in ponds where 
it has been growing but a few years, it has every 
appearance of being indigenous. The habitat 
given for it in this country is Bantam Lake, Litch- 
field, Conn. ; but the characteristics of its growth 



OTHER CRYPTOGAMS IN CULTIVATION. 155 



are such, that it may be an introduced species even 
there. 

The Lycopodiacece are highest among Crypto- 
gams, The order contains the genera Isoetes, 
Psilotum, Tmesipteris, Lycopodmm, Selagiiiella, 
and Phylloglossitni. Even a superficial examina- 
tion of them will suggest resemblances to plants 
of higher structure among the Phanerogams. 
Some of the Lycopodmms remind us of a pine- 
tree, and the fruit-spikes of many resemble pine- 
cones. Humble as they now are, they can boast 
of noble ancestors among the Lepidodendrons of 
geologic antiquity, whose towering stems during 
the Carboniferous Period reached a height of six- 
ty feet, and which were plants closely connected 
by the Sigillarias to the Conifers. We have in 
America PsiloHim, a plant which grows in Florida, 
and resembles the beech-drops {Epiphegus Vir- 
giniand) ; and Isoetes, which is an uninteresting 
grass-like plant growing in shallow water, and hav- 
ing its spores at the bases of the leaves. 

The species of the genus Lycopodiiim are diffi- 
cult to establish in cultivation; 'and so many 
writers allude to this fact, that it must have been 
proved by multiplied and fruitless experiments 
everywhere among horticulturists. Of our common 
species, L. dejidroideum, complanatiLiny hicidzchmtj 
and annotimcm are beautiful plants, and much in 
demand for use as evergreens in all kinds of deco- 
ration. 



156 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



The genus Selaginella is, of all the Lycopods, 
most frequently met with in cultivation ; and more 
frequently, indeed, than all the other Cryptogams, 
except the ferns. Its graceful habit, and the ease 
with which its species are grown, at once recom- 
mend it to every one for the Wardian-case, green- 
house, or stove. Some Selaginellas will thrive in 
the air of an ordinary living-room. Even in New 
England two of the smaller species are indigenous, 
while in California and the South-western States 
the number of hardy species is much increased. 
So important are they among cultivated Crypto- 
gams, that we shall devote an entire chapter to 
their consideration. 



CHAPTER XVL 



SELAGIXELLAS, 




MONG the ScIagiiicUas are plants of very 
different type, from the solid, carpet-like 
vS. dcnsa, to the extensively climbing 5. 
IcBvigata. Between these extremes are such as 
5. Martensii, one of the commonest in cultivation, 
which rises six or eight inches, dropping roots 
from the stem to support itself as it grows ; and 
the frond-like species, which have a very fern-like 
aspect, and are perhaps more delicately cut than 
any fern. Among these last are S. viticitlosa and 
6". pubescens. The fern-like Sclaginellas increase 
by underground stems, and are, therefore, more 
difficult to propagate. 

Sclaginellas all thrive in the tropical, and many 
species do well in the temperate house. They 
endure, in fact like, deep shade. Hence they are 
invaluable for in-door ferneries. The low-growing 
species, as S. dentiadata, the commonest of all. 
make in a wonderfully short time a green carpet 

157 



158 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



in the fern-house wherever they are allowed to 
grow, whether on sand or on earth. It has been 
the writer's practice to allow this pretty Selaginella 
to take its own course, and to cover all the spaces 
between the pots on the sanded shelves, the earth 
among the larger pots in a central bed, and what- 
ever space it might find on the greenhouse paths. 
The professional gardener would doubtless think 
this a ''weedy" proceeding: but we do not all 
care to see the unrelieved primness of a too well- 
ordered house ; and besides, those of us who have 
but a small place at best prefer to keep it, as it 
were, as a large fern-case which we can enter and 
examine, rather than to arrange it more exactly as 
a collection, and provoke the comparison of its 
minuteness to the magnificent establishments of 
our wealthy neighbors. 

Selaginellas may be divided, or their cuttings 
rooted, at any time. Many species will be found 
to come up freely from the spores in spring and 
fall. The fruit-spike, bearing its two kinds of 
spores, may be discovered at the tips of the little 
branches on the older fronds. They are of the 
same green color as the ordinary divisions of the 
frond, only more dense and angular. Figures 
illustrating the fruiting and reproduction of Sela- 
ginellas may be referred to at p. 400 of Sachs's 
"Text-Book of Botany," and p. 90 in LeMaout and 
Decaisne's large work mentioned in Chapter IV. 



SELAGINELLAS. 



159 



With nearly every species it is best to renew 
the plants annually, as a year suffices to render 
them irregular and misshapen. The climbing Sela- 
ginellas and those from a creeping stem may be 
put in larger pots, however, as they increase. As 
most of them do not root deeply in the earth, a 
shallow soil is enough ; but the drainage of the 
pans must be provided for most carefully. Of the 
dense-growing species little tufts may be taken, 
and distributed over the surface of the soil, which 
should be light and quite sandy, then pressed in 
slightly, carefully sprinkled, and placed one side 
in a moist and shady corner. Of the taller-grow- 
ing species, such as Martensii, Galeottii, &c., cut- 
tings for single plants may be rooted in the 
cutting-bench of the greenhouse ; but for larger 
specimens they may be distributed, one to every 
inch, over a nine or ten inch pan, which will in 
a few months yield beautiful plants. They can be 
trimmed as freely as desired. 

The following suggestion is offered by Smith in 
''Ferns, British and Foreign," p. 328 : — 

" If, however, good species are desirable, with an arrange- 
ment on a bench or low shelf, square pans about twice as 
high at the back as in front are in every way preferable. 
These are at Kew arranged alternately with the cases of 
Hymenophyllum^ with which they harmonize." 

Owing to the multitude of synonymes in use in 
naming collections of Selaginellas, great trouble 



l6o FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



is experienced in ordering any particular species 
from a catalogue. The names given below were 
taken from a named collection at the Botanic 
Garden, Cambridge, Mass., and may therefore be 
relied upon as correct. The plants themselves, 
when the list was made, were in a most beautiful 
and healthy condition. 

I. CLIMBING SPECIES. 

^S*. IcBvigata, Spring. Sometimes known as Lycopoditun {not 

Selagiiielld) Willdenovii^ S. ccssia, S. altisswia, &c. 

From East India. When trained in a pot as a climber, 

or left to itself in the fernery, it is a beautiful plant. 

When in good condition, the fronds are of a fine metalHc 

blue. It needs the warmest place. 
6". Wallichii, Hort. From Penang. Has fern-like fronds, 

and is well adapted for pot-culture. 
S. caiilescens, Spring. From the East Indies. May be 

trained into a most attractive exhibition-plant. 
S. inaqnalifolia, Spring. From East India. Is also a fine 

species. 

II. ERECT SPECIES. 

S. Lyallii, Spring. A tall-growing species of very handsome 

form. Needs warmth. 
S. vitinilosa, Klotz. From Columbia. Fronds quite large, 

light green. A fine j)an-plant. 
.5". Parvillei, Spring. Fronds larger and darker than the 

last. 

6^. hccviatodes, Spring. Fronds larger and taller still, dark 

green, delicate, and very handsome. 
S. erythropus^ Spring. From Troi^ical America. Similar 

to above, but not so large as the last. It approaches the 

next species. 



SELAGINELLAS. 



i6i 



S. piibescens^ Spring. This, when well grown, is one of the 
most beautiful of Selaginellas. It is often found under 
the name 6". Willdenovii. The fronds frequently are 
two feet high. 

III. PLANTS DECUMBENT, OR INCLINED TO BE SO. 

S. Galeottii, Spring. Sometimes known as S. Schotti. 
From Mexico. This is a fine plant for baskets or for 
walls in the greenhouse. Is also excellent for the fern- 
ery ; but it is difficult to keep it within the limits of a pan, 
as the numerous stems often shoot out to a great length. 

S. atroviridis, Spring. From East India. A rather stiff 
species, with somewhat large fronds. Is interesting 
from its ruddy appearance. 

S. Martensii, Spiking. From Mexico. This is one of the 
most common as well as most useful species in cultiva- 
tion. It is found under the names Lycopodium stolonife- 
rtiJ}i and L. Brasiliense. Its habit is to continually 
throw off roots from the backs of the fronds, like a min- 
iature banyan : hence one of its names {stoloniferum). 
This species has been made to vary considerably. The 
var. co7npacta is more dense than the typical form, mak- 
ing quite bushy little plants when single. The var. di- 
varicata is more delicate : the fronds are tipped with a 
light, almost golden, point; and the whole appearance of 
the plant differs widely from the other varieties. Var. 
variegata seems to be a variegated compacta. The fronds 
are often half white. By selecting the whitest from which 
to propagate, the variety may be kept for any length of 
time ; but, if the cultivator is not careful, the green 
fronds will predominate, and the variety return to its ori- 
ginal type. Like almost all variegated plants obtained 
by modifying species, there is in this variety an abnormal 
condition of existence : although this particular Selagi- 



l62 FERiVS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



jiella does not follow very closely the law that such varie- 
gated plants are less healthy than others, for its fronds 
are but slightly smaller than the ordinary green ones. 
The varieties of this species are just the plants with 
which to fill the shallow pans, or to use as undergrowth in 
ferneries. They will endure quite a cool temperature, 
and flourish in a hot one. They like shade, but will not 
die in full light. 

So far, the species enumerated under the head 
"Decumbent" are those of larger and more erect 
habit. Among the creeping, low-growing sorts, 
are 

S. tmcinata, Spring. Called also S. ccEsia. From China. 
A plant adapted to pot-culture or the fernery. The 
longer stems are stiff ; and in the fall the plant has a 
beautiful color; but by spring the whole will have become 
withered, and look badly. It may then be cut in quite 
closely, and new shoots will soon develop. 

6*. Kraiisiaiia^ var. A delicate plant, with a golden tip to 
each segment of the fronds. Somewhat like S. ATai'- 
teusii^ var. divaj'-icata, but more delicate. 

S. delicatissima^ A. Br. From Columbia. Also called S. 
?nicrophylla, and is well described by either name. Like 
the last species, it is more adapted to pan-culture than for 
the fernery with other plants. In a small fernery, by it- 
self, it can be managed v'ithout trouble. 

S. deniiculata^ Link. A European species, the commonest 
in cultivation. It is even a weed in most fern-houses. 
It is very useful to cover any damjD spot, and, for a 
fernery, is always pretty. 

S. Apiis^ spring. A native of N. America. It grows in 
damp, shady hollows. Is considered the same as the 



SELAGINELLAS. 



more closely-growing S. densa so much cultivated. But, 
whether there are two species or one, the plants are 
charming. S. densa, when well started, forms a solid 
turf on a pan in a short time. Little tufts may be pricked 
out in different parts of the pan, and will grow together. 
This species does not generally thrive in the fern-case 
with other plants. 

IV. PLANTS WITH FRONDS SPRINGING FROM A CENTRAL 
POINT. 

S. convoluia, Spring. From Tropical America. Often 
called Lycopodhnn co7ivolutu7}t and L. paradoxa. A 
dark-green species, with rather rigid fronds, 

S. involvens, Spring. From India. More circular in form. 
This and 

S. ctispidata, Link, from Tropical America, are dry-looking 
species. In fact, all the Selaginellas in this section ap- 
parently grow in countries where there is a dry season 
at some time of the year. If not watered sufficiently, 
they will curl up rather than wilt as other species do. 

S.pilifera. Another of the same general habit. 

S. lepidophylla, Spring. From Mexico. This is the cu- 
rious ball-like plant which in its dead and dry condition 
is peddled in the streets of Boston and other cities as 
the "resurrection-plant." When this dry ball is placed 
in water it soon unfolds, looking as if it were alive; 
but it is not, and many have been the disappointed 
persons who have vainly endeavored to make a speci- 
men grow. The water is absorbed in a purely mechani- 
cal way by the plant, just as oil is drawn up into lamp- 
wicks by capillary attraction. The true "resurrection- 
plant," or "rose of Jericho," is the A7iastatica hiero- 
ckuntina of Syria, which is supposed by the superstitious 
to unfold yearly at the day and hour of Christ's birth. 



1 64 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



The Selaginellas of the last division are rather 
hard to manage, and are only desirable as curious 
plants. 

There are very few works available for the de- 
termination of the species of Selaginella. Spring's 
"Monograph of the Lycopodiaceae " is the authority 
most in use. A few plates of different species 
of Selaginella are given in some of the works 
of Sir W. J. Hooker : others may be found in 
the horticultural publications. For investigating 
the structure of these plants, Sachs, Hoffmeister, 
and LeMaout and Decaisne, may be consulted. 




CHAPTER XVII. 

FLOWERING-PLANTS TO GROW WITH FERNS. 

O extended lists of plants will be attempted 
in this chapter; but suggestions will be 
given as to the classes of plants most 
suitable for cultivation with ferns. 

In house-culture, particularly in the tropical 
house, the various species of Palms are frequently 
grown with fine effect. The catalogues of dealers 
in rare plants, either on this or the other side of 
the Atlantic, will give the prices and sizes of these ; 
and a reference to such books as Martins' " Genera 
and Species of Palms " will enable the purchaser 
to form some idea of the shape of their fronds and 
their mode of growth. It also is frequently the 
case that the dealers' catalogues are themselves 
well illustrated. 

The AroidecB contain many plants, especially the 
highly-colored Caladmms, well adapted to grow 
with ferns. 

One of the most magnificent plants that can be 

165 




1 66 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



cultivated is one of the bananas, — the Micsa En- 
sete ; but it could only, of course, be grown in a 
large greenhouse. 

The Begonias, especially those after the pattern 
of B. rex, are always desirable. They are easily 
managed in the greenhouse or fern-case. 

The moist air of the fern-house seems exactly 
what is required for the treatment of Orchids ; 
but the expense which these plants involve pre- 
vents their cultivation becoming common. But 
where the owner of the house has time to tend 
and watch them, or a gardener is always in at- 
tendance, they should not be omitted. The first 
thing to be done by any one who proposes to grow 
Orc]iids is to obtain Williams's ''Orchid-Grower's 
Manual;" or ''Orchid Culture," by Edward S. 
Rand, jun. (Hurd and Houghton, 1876). The 
latter is slightly the more expensive. These books 
contain descriptions of the best OrcJiids, and in- 
formation concerning their management. 

Among the smaller plants suitable for ferneries 
are the Fittonias, the very pretty variegated Paid- 
ciLni, various Marantas, and, until it outgrows its 
quarters, the Coccoloba platyphylla. The Ficus 
repens will in a short time form a beautiful cover- 
ing on the wall of the greenhouse, and will also 
thrive in the fernery. 

Reference has already been made to plants 
which may be grown in the out-door fernery. 



FLOWERING-PLANTS TO GROW WITH FERNS. 167 



This is one of the places which should be devoted 
to experiments ; one of its greatest charms being 
the discovery, as spring opens, of plants in good 
condition which had been placed there the season 
before, with some misgivings as to their survival. 
It is possible, at very little expense of money 
or trouble, always to bring something to the fern- 
ery from our short journeys or country walks ; 
and the experiments thus tried serve both to in- 
terest us at the time, and add to the plants to be 
watched for and hailed with pleasure as other 
seasons come. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



FERN-PESTS. 

VERY one who cultivates ferns, whether 
in doors or out, in pots or in ferneries, 
will, sooner or later, find that his pets are 
liable to trouble from animal or vegetable pests, 
and that some of these are only with great diffi- 
culty to be exterminated. 

The common plant-lice {Aphis, PL 22, Fig. 9), 
of which there are at least two species, collect on 
the young fronds, and, owing to their gemmipa- 
rous method of reproduction, increase with aston- 
ishing rapidity. Dr. Packard, in his " Guide to 
the Study of Insects, " states that it has been 
shown, that, by this process, nine generations may 
be produced, and in one case eleven generations 
were obtained, in seven months. Ants, which do 
no particular harm themselves, are very fond of 
the sweetish secretions of the Aphides, sometimes 
guarding them for future use. 

The Aphis may be destroyed by tobacco-smoke. 
168 





Plate XXL Chinese Stand. 



FERN-PESTS. 



169 



In fact, if the greenhouse is smoked lightly every 
week, as it should be, very little trouble will be 
experienced from this source. When house-plants 
or ferneries are attacked by them, the Aphides may 
be readily removed by using a soft brush. 

The Thrips {Heliothrips hcBmorrhoidalis^ PI. 22, 
Fig. 2) is much harder to manage. These insects 
generally collect unobserved on the under side of 
the fern-fronds, where they increase greatly, and 
injure many plants before their presence is sus- 
pected. They live upon the cuticle of the frond 
or leaf, causing it to turn brown or whitish. The 
insects in the larval state are white, the adults 
black or dark brown. These are so small, — being 
only about the sixteenth of an inch in length, — 
that they are hardly noticeable without a glass, 
and are with difficulty removed by mechanical 
means. Smoking which will keep the Aphis in 
check will not dislodge the Thrips, while smoke 
sufficiently strong to kill the Thrips will be sure 
to injure the more delicate plants. The best 
method is to select some time when dull weather 
is expected, and give the house, three evenings in 
succession, as much smoke as is safe. This will 
usually dispose of the Thrips ; but, if unsuccessful, 
repeat the operation soon. One gardener says 
that he judges of the necessary quantity of smoke 
by tasting the leaves of several plants : if the 
tobacco is perceptible, he feels that the Thrips 
must have been killed. 



I70 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



The mealy-bug {Coccus, PI. 22, Fig. 6) is sel- 
dom found in the fern-house, as the dampness 
required for the health of the ferns is too great 
for its well-being ; and as the males are winged, 
and are destroyed by smoke, the females seldom 
increase sufficiently to do any harm. Should they, 
however, become troublesome, a smart syringing 
will usually dislodge most of them : the rest can 
be destroyed by a small stiff brush or little pine 
stick. Kerosene is frequently recommended for 
killing the mealy-bug ; but, in the hands of a be- 
ginner, it is a dangerous remedy. 

The various scale-lice {Lccaniimi and Aspidio- 
tiLs) are usually found on the stipes and rachis of 
the fern. They cannot be made to relinquish 
their hold by any such mild treatment as will dis- 
pose of the mealy-bug. It will generally be found 
necessary to remove each plant attacked to some 
suitable place, out of doors if possible, where the 
scale-lice must be carefully removed either with 
a little stick or the finger-nail. The plant must 
afterward be washed with soap and water, to re- 
move any eggs that may adhere to it. Dr. Pack- 
ard speaks of several species of these insects 
which have attacked the plants in the Amherst 
and Cambridge greenhouses. The Lecaiiiitm fil- 
iciLni preys on the strong-growing ferns. It is 
shown, highly magnified, in PI. 22, Fig. 8, as 
seen from above, and in Fig. 7 from underneath. 



FERiV-FESTS. 



171 



L. platyccrii (PI. 22, Fig. 5) is found on the Stag's- 
Horn Fern {Platycermm), where it does much 
mischief. The AspidiotiLS bromelii is another of 
these pests. The scale-Hce are themselves some- 
times attacked, as is the Aphis, by parasites. A 
minute ichneumon-fly pierces the outer shell of 
the scale, and deposits its eggs within. These are 
hatched, and the larvae, feeding on the scale-con- 
tents, soon destroy their host. When perfected, 
the little ichneumons fly away to repeat this pro- 
cess on other scales. Dr. Packard, judging from 
his observations, thinks that a great many scale- 
lice are thus destroyed. 

The red spider {Tetrajiy chits telarms) ought not 
to be found in any fern-house, as its presence 
plainly shows that the temperature is too high, 
and that the atmosphere of the house is not 
sufflciently moist. The red spider, as well as the 
Thrips, will first attack plants which are not in 
their most healthy condition, as is the case when 
plants which naturally require a temperate heat 
are kept in the tropical house. Among the ferns 
most frequently assailed are Pellcea hastata, Lo- 
maria ciliata, L. gibba, and Aspidmm falcatiLm. 

The red spider belongs to the family of mites.. 
It can hardly be seen without a glass ; but, when 
collected in quantities, the insects give the fronds 
a rusty appearance ; and, if the fingers are drawn 
over the fronds, they will be stained a reddish 



172 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



color. We can soon rid ourselves of this pest 
by sprinkling the plants, particularly the under 
side of the fronds, with water, at evening, or in 
the day-time during cloudy weather. 

Among larger pests are the snails. Both the 
Helix, and the soft, shell-less, slimy Limax, some- 
times called slug," quickly eat the new fronds 
and young plants, and will cause much trouble in 
a short time if suffered to increase. They are 
found in both the in and out door fernery. They 
may be detected, inside, by their shining trails 
of slime where they have marched across the 
glass or plant-stems. All of these snails are very 
fond of apple or potato, and can be trapped by 
leaving in their way slices of these or other juicy 
morsels to attract them. If such baits are put at 
evening under the moss or leaves, or on the green- 
house shelves, the snails or other vermin which 
have collected to feed upon them may the next 
morning be killed. 

The sow-bug {Porcellio), one of the Cnistaceay 
frequents places where ferns are cultivated. This 
creature lives upon dead organic matter, and prob- 
ably does no harm to the plants. Sow-bugs may 
be caught by inverting flower-pots with moss or 
leaves in them to serve as traps : they will col- 
lect under these covers. Or they may be hunted 
under boards or loose stones. 

Among fern-pests in the New-England States 



Plate XXII. Fern Pests. 



FERN-PESTS. 



is one European snail {Helix cellaria)^ which, Uke 
many of our garden nuisances, has been transported 
from across the ocean, very probably with some 
choice plants, around which an unusual amount 
of packing had been placed for more complete 
protection. 

The earth-worm {Lwnbricus)^ when confined to 
the narrow limits of a flower-pot, causes considera- 
ble trouble by its tendency to turn things upside 
down, but in the larger spaces of the greenhouse, 
and out of doors, does probably more good than 
harm. 

The larva of a saw-fly {Abia caprifolii, PI. 22, 
Fig. 3), which feeds upon the honeysuckles, and 
also the currant-worm, have attacked the fronds 
of Onoclea and Osmunda in the writer's open-air 
fernery, causing much damage. As they are 
quite large, they can be easily seen and picked 
off ; or, better still, perhaps, the plants can be 
dusted with hellebore or some of the so-called 
Turkish insect-powders.^ 

English works complain of the ravages of beetle- 
grubs, especially that of the OtiorhyjicJms sulcatus^ 
which infests ferneries ; and Dr. Packard states 
that *'a weevil somewhat like Otiorhynchus infests 

1 While the writer has been at work on this very chapter, two beautiful 
specimens of Botrychium Virginianum in his collection have been de- 
stroyed by a cut-worm, their withered fronds lying on the ground to tell 
the tale. 



174 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES A. YD OURS. 



the plant-house at Amherst." According to Smith, 
in England **few plant-houses are exempt from 
the ravages of the cockroach ; " but they are not 
often found in greenhouses on this side of the 
Atlantic. If, however, they should be discovered, 
traps may be set for them in the same manner as 
for the snails. ''Another insect, the Aleiirodes 
vaporaritim, feeds on the cuticle of the fronds, dart- 
ing off, when disturbed, like a flock of pigeons." 
This insect has been observed in Salem. It be- 
longs to the mealy-bug family, and is shown at PI. 
22, Fig. 4, in the young or larval condition ; Fig. 
I, full grown. 

Under certain conditions various leaf -fungi attack 
the ferns. Among them is the "sooty mildew," 
which quickly covers the fronds of large species. 
The Uredo filiciim Dcsm. assails different species 
in the open air, as well as in the greenhouse ; and 
frequently the fronds of Pteris aqtdlma will be dis- 
figured by patches of DotJiidea pteridis, Fr.^ which 
so much resembles the fructification of ferns, that 
it is sometimes mistaken for this by inexperienced 
persons. The same thing occurs with Aspidiiim 
rnarginale. Only the first of these fungi does 
much injury to the ferns. The treatment advised 
to destroy this is dusting with sulphur, or wash- 
ing and syringing." Sulphur must be always used 
with care in a greenhouse ; for should even a very 
small quantity fall on the flues, and ignite, the 



FERX-FESTS. 



fumes evolved would be sure destruction to the 
plants in the collection. 

Rabbits are in England complained of as inter- 
fering with the out-door cultivation of ferns. But 
the writer has found his chief trouble to arise from 
the midnight revels of the cats of the neighbor- 
hood, which seem in the spring (the time when 
most damage can be done by breaking down the 
new fronds, and uprooting the young plants) to 
consider the "wild corner " a particularly favorable 
place for their frolics. A box-trap, followed by a 
short course of hydropathy whenever a patient 
presents himself, has greatly alleviated this annoy- 
ance ; and the evil, when dead, becomes a blessing 
in the shape of a stimulant at the roots of pear- 
trees and grape-vines. A friend has lost a fine col- 
lection of out-of-door ferns by the ravages of hens, 
which seemed to consider the young crosiers very 
delicate food. All these and many other annoy- 
ances must be met with good-temper, patience, and 
mother-wit by every one who would be successful 
in the culture of ferns. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



. CONCLUSION. 



N conclnsion, the writer has but a word to 
say. There is a large class of persons 
who are so fortunate (or unfortunate, ac- 
cording as they use or abuse the privilege) as to 
have nothing to do ; or, to speak more exactly, 
have to do only what they choose. This class 
must have a hobby, or they will rust out. Another 
class are engrossed by incessant professional 
work which leave's them every day cross and 
tired. These should have some outside hobby, 
or they will become one-sided and crabbed, and 
wem' out. 

Dr. Jacob Bigelow of Boston, being a hard and 
earnest worker in his profession, determined, for 
his own good, to select some sensible form of 
recreation ; and chose the study of botany, as 
necessitating long walks and refreshing thoughts. 
The result was the publication, in 1814, of his 

Florula Bostoniensis," which, enlarged and im- 
176 



CONCLUSION. 



177 



proved in later editions, became the standard ref- 
erence-book for all botanists in that portion of the 
country, and for more than the third of a century 
held this ground undisputed, until the larger and 
more modern works of Dr. Gray superseded it. 
Dr. Bigelow pubhshed other works ; and, although . 
these are not now in use as text-books, they still 
hold an important place among books of reference. 
All this came from a hobby. 

Without an object we walk aimlessly, we read 
aimlessly, we think aimlessly. Without a hobby 
no great man would be great. The child who 
collects postage-stamps learns something of geog- 
raphy ; and the coin-collector must acquire some- 
thing of history, that he may properly arrange his 
coins. Too little attention is given, in our sys- 
tems of education, to particular tastes. Our pub- 
lic schools turn out children of the first, second, 
or third degree of education, as our cotton-facto- 
ries do their qualities of cloth ; or they are as- 
sorted, as we screen coal or stones, by the size of 
the mesh in the netting over which they are 
thrown. To pay any such attention, even in a 
small degree, to the individuality of scholars, 
\yould demand an indefinite increase in the num- 
ber of our public teachers ; and perhaps all that 
can be hoped for is, that we shall find some pro- 
vision for it in our best private schools and col- 
leges. But every jDcrson, old or young, outside of 



lyS FERA'S IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



an asylum for the insane, should have some one 
thing in which an intellectual interest is taken, — 
some hobby, or something that may grow into 
one. Forced to study what we detest, and what 
we can see no use in studying, we shall inevitably 
neglect such studies ; but taken at the point on 
which their interest is concentrated, and led by skil- 
ful hands and a clear head, those whose lives would 
otherwise become dull or trivial can be indirectly 
guided to much higher aims and attainments. 

The writer will not claim that the fern-mania, 
which may be traced from its beginning across 
the ocean to its recent development in this coun- 
try, is a hobby superior to most others : but he 
does claim, that, properly guided, it can be the 
means of stimulating pure and healthy exercise 
and study ; and that, whether pursued in a scien- 
tific way or only as a pastinje, it can, in any 
event, do no harm, but may be the cause of great 
and permanent good. 

If this little book shall in any way conduce to 
the love of the graceful plants of whose culture it 
treats, or aid any beginner in the study of the 
ferns, the writer will feel that another pleasure 
has been added to that which he has already ex- 
perienced in its composition. 



1 



